Category Archives: Exhibition

Marc Leuthold’s Foray Into Fiberart

Marc Leuthold’s display at the 12th “From Lausanne to Beijing” International Fiberart Biennale Exhibition at the Yunnan Museum in China.

Chief Curator, Professor Lin Lecheng of Tsinghua University invited Marc Leuthold to create fiberart sculptures to exhibit in the 12th “From Lausanne to Beijing” International Fiberart Biennale Exhibition at the Yunnan Museum in China. For decades, this exhibition has served as the world’s foremost fiberart exhibition. 

Professor Lin invited Leuthold to work collaboratively with China National Craft Master Ai Jing Wei’s studio in Yunnan Province. In North America, Leuthold filmed short videos and created paper templates and maquettes.  Using Leuthold’s videos and stills, Mr. Ai’s artisans recreated the sculptures in silk.  Leuthold also directed variations of the historic indigo dying process to allow for varied results. This experiment yielded a collection of silk sculptures that, in combination with porcelains, are being exhibited in the Biennale among established fiberart masters. 

Leuthold comments, “My parents studied at the STF Schweitzerische Textilfachschule in Zurich and wove fabrics for decades. As a child, I designed for my father and from ages 12 to14, I wove every day. Blue and white porcelains are a revered tradition in China. Now, as a ceramist with my personal history, working with indigo to create blue and white silk sculptures seemed especially intriguing. I am deeply grateful to Professor Lin and Master Ai for supporting this project.”

Detail view.
Leuthold and Professor Lin Lecheng with Lin’s artwork.

Ke Museum of Fine Arts in Shanghai Adds Marc Leuthold’s Ivory Accretion to its Permanent Collection

The Ke Museum of Fine Arts in Shanghai has purchased Marc Leuthold’s Ivory Accretion for its permanent collection, following the exhibition “Encounter: Shanghai Contemporary Ceramics Experimental Art.”  24 Chinese and 8 foreign artists were invited to participate in the exhibition.  In a press release, the exhibit was described as a collision of various camps in the evolving arena of avant-garde ceramics.  Li Xiaoshan, Zhao Peishang, and Yuan Hong co-curated the exhibition.

Marc Leuthold at Art Labor Gallery, Shanghai

ART LABOR Gallery is pleased to present the dual solo exhibition by American artist Marc Leuthold and Chinese artist Li Lihong. The exhibition is from September 21st to October 27th, 2019. The opening reception is from 6 – 9 pm, Saturday, September 21st.

Both artists are renowned in the field of ceramic art, yet distinct with their own unique atheistic. Entitled “Hand and Machine”, the exhibition is a conversation between the handmade and machine creation, as well as a conversation between the two artists exploring Eastern and Western cultural influences.

Marc Leuthold has a long interest in Eastern philosophy, and this eastern aesthetic is embodied throughout his creations. On the contrary, Li Lihong, born into a long family line of porcelain artisans tracing back to the emperor Tong Zhi in the early Qing Dynasty, has been focusing on exploring temporary porcelain under the influence of western pop art and consumer culture. Both artists are grounded within the cultural contexts of their upbringings, while searching for expressions through the other.

Through this medium of clay, Leuthold’s works are a play between the soft and hard, and the fluid and crystalline. An element of surprise occurs in his studio, sometimes yielding unexpected forms, surfaces and colors. This leads to re-invention and experimentation. Even when repeated, forms are inherently unique. His ceramic sculptures, most often, are discrete objects that are exhibited sometimes singularly and sometimes in dialogue with one another in installation environments. In these environments, the artist often incorporates other media such as wood, glass, paper, ink paintings, bronze and literary texts.

After years of hand making all his sculptural works, Li Lihong started experimenting with ceramic 3-D printing last year. Blending the cutting edge technology into his practice, creating artwork that plays with the new possibilities while testing its limitations is what intrigues him the most. Even with the machine, the seemingly unified sculptural form is still hard to find. With 3-D printing, each piece expresses its own uniqueness through inimitable “line prints”, upon close observation, the stereotypical notion of repetitiveness and uniformity dissipates, making us dive deep into and question the concepts of hand verses machine, monotony verses diversity, command verses free will.