ART-PRESENTATION: Arlene Shechet-Together: Pacific Time

For her entire career, Shechet has embraced an experimental approach to sculpture, finding form in the chance processes that occur as mutable materials (plaster, ceramic, paper pulp and glass) become solid. Shechet has, over the last decade, generated a body of work remarkable for its use of clay. Fascinated by the material’s history, Shechet recently completed a residency at the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Pace Gallery Archive

Arlene Shechet was born in 1951 in New York City. Fascinated by the way things are made, Shechet likens her studio to both farm and factory. Employing an experimental approach to ceramic sculpture, she tests the limits of gravity, color, and texture by pushing against the boundary of classical techniques, sometimes fusing her kiln-fired creations with complex plinths formed of wood, steel, and concrete. By incorporating casts of firebricks and porcelain slip molds into her sculptures (revealing the tools of industry), she reflects on and investigates the tradition of decorative arts. Variously sensual, humorous, and elegant, her clay-based vessels evoke the tension between control and chaos, beauty and ugliness, perfection and imperfection. Considering herself an installation artist who happens to make objects, Shechet focuses intently on ensuring that the display, sight lines, and relationships of the objects in her exhibitions change with every view while maintaining formal equilibrium. Featuring more than a dozen brilliantly colored ceramic and steel sculptures created by the artist at her studio during the recent period of quarantine, the exhibition “Together: Pacific Time” demonstrates Shechet’s deep exploration of the power of color during a time of extraordinary upheaval. These sculptures show Shechet creating a livening pulse of highly saturated and tactile works: art as a source of renewed joy and inspiration. Building upon the unique and technically demanding glazing methods the artist employed for her New York City solo exhibition Skirts at Pace in 2020, Shechet continues to push technical boundaries in this body of work. Sculptures with densely textured surfaces, intimately scaled, are paired with colored steel supports, their evocative forms asking to be examined from multiple angles while promising hidden treasures to be revealed. Painted a bright, acidic yellow, the central gallery’s walls tie the artist’s running theme of the redemptive power of color throughout the entire space, offering an immersive experience for the viewer. Using a naming system that alludes to the medieval “Book of Hours”, the works’ titles reflect the marking of time during their creation. Though titled to reflect the passage of time, these sculptures also harness the viewer to the present moment through their seductively vibrant and chromatically rich nature. Highlights from the series include “Together: Pacific Time: 1 a.m.” (2021), comprising red steel and a violet-hued ceramic body that morphs from one angular side to a hollow arching structure as the viewer moves around it. In Together: Pacific Time: 5 a.m. (2021), an orange form drapes over the lemon yellow steel, while a luscious drip of glaze, frozen in the moment of its creation, pours from the central cavity of the artwork. The painted and powder-coated supports of the works on view are essential to the pieces, expanding beyond a structural role and serving as a further reflection of Shechet’s merging of color and form. Presented as a garden of sculptures, the exhibition also features larger works such as “Under the Cherry Tree There are No Strangers” and “Iron Twins” (both 2020).

Photo: Arlene Shechet, Together: Pacific Time: 9 p.m.(Detail), 2020, glazed ceramic, powder coated steel, 24″ × 19″ × 12-1/2″ (61 cm × 48.3 cm × 31.8 cm), overall 12″ × 19″ × 12-1/2″ (30.5 cm × 48.3 cm × 31.8 cm), ceramic 12″ × 19″ × 12-1/2″ (30.5 cm × 48.3 cm × 31.8 cm), base, © Arlene Shechet, Courtesy the artist and Pace Gallery

Info: Pace Gallery, 229 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, Duration: 11/3-1/5/2021, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 12:00-17:00 (by appointment only-book here), www.pacegallery.com