Opening reception: Saturday, July 2, 6–8pm
Blum & Poe is pleased to present Los Angeles-based artist Shio Kusaka’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.
For this presentation, Kusaka establishes a narrative via a body of work comprised of varied shapes, textures, sizes, techniques, and motifs. Ceramic pots carved to resemble wood grain, porcelain beach balls, pots painted with grids and lines, and miniature porcelain animals, can all be understood as a response to ceramic traditions.
Installed in the three main-floor galleries, on a seemingly continuous pedestal over one hundred feet in length, Kusaka’s installation calls for each work to be considered within the context of the collective whole. While each pot does function as a stand-alone work, a certain rhythm emerges as individual works gesture to the whims of form and content of surrounding works.
This exhibition is accompanied by the first in an ongoing series of catalogues documenting a selection of Kusaka’s artworks, inspired by Japanese pottery reference books. This first volume focuses on works from 2014–2016. It is published by Karma, New York and distributed by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.
Shio Kusaka (b. 1972, Japan) lives and works in Los Angeles. Her work was included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and has been exhibited throughout the world.