ELISABETH KLEY

Ideas around decoration and fantasy architecture have been a consistent concern for Kley – her first ceramic birdhouses and fountains emerged from drawings of imaginary pavilions made in 1997 – and design objects held in museum collections across the world remain a vital research resource. While previous bodies of work have pulled from a variety of sources, with the artist finding and altering motifs from decorative methods in ancient Egyptian, pre-Columbian, Islamic and Asian traditions, most of the patterns here are sourced from the Wiener Werkstätte archive held by the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna. The Wiener Werkstätte was a community of artisans, artists, and designers, operating in Vienna in the early 20th century, concerned with the artistic production of utilitarian items in a variety of media. Models for some of the motifs seen in the exhibition include a manicure set, an architectural plan and a fabric swatch.

The shapes of the sculptures are developed intuitively and assembled from coils and slabs. Once they’ve had their first firing and are no longer fragile, Kley begins the more involved process of their patterning, drawing from her database of images and translating them onto the three-dimensional forms. Patterns painted on pieces of paper matching each facet of a sculpture are taped to its surfaces and adapted until they feel right. The ceramics are then painted with white underglaze, with wax applied to sections that will stay white and a layer of cobalt stain and black underglaze added to unwaxed areas. The designs are set with a second firing and finally, the works are painted with unevenly applied homemade glazes and fired again. Kley’s bold shapes repeat, echo each other and shift from black to white across the paintings and vessels, forming bold yet mysterious patterns across the Bricks Space.

Kley’s works are accompanied by a series of colourful hand-turned wooden lamps by Torbjörn Vejvi.

Courtesy The Modern Institute.