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Cammie Staros: les vases communicants

Past exhibition
11 November - 27 December 2017
  • Overview
  • Works
  • Installation Views
  • Press
Overview
Cammie Staros, les vases communicants

Shulamit Nazarian is pleased to present Los Angeles-based artist Cammie Staros’ first exhibition with the gallery, les vases communicants. The exhibition’s title references surrealist André Breton’s 1932 essay by the same name, which in turn borrows it from the scientific principle of “communicating vessels.” Looking specifically to the shapely vessels of Classical Greece, the artist’s hand-built objects marry ancient ceramic techniques with modern industrial materials such as neon and machined metals. The resulting sculptures are rooted in history, yet disarmingly present.

 

 

For les vases communicants, Staros mines images and artifacts from the Greco-Roman period that aestheticizes eroticism, violence, and victory. Drawing distinct parallels between bygone civilizations and our own, allusions to bondage, sadomasochism, and other forms of contemporary fetish emerge to underscore the violence and sexual experimentation of societies past and present. Additionally, the artist anthropomorphizes her sculptures through references to armor and dress—often a gendered divide—as traditionally depicted on Greek figure vases. At times, her vessels allude to the historical depiction of severed heads, using the myth of Medusa as a point of departure to address the terror of female sexuality as it is represented throughout art history.

 

Staros’ fascination with classical antiquities lies both in the charge of the objects themselves, and with how those objects have come to represent an origin story of Western art history. Her works remind us that historical narratives are told through visual languages as much as written ones. Staros contributes her own symbology to a constellation of references from far-flung regions and eras, and entices her audiences to reexamine the role of historical objects.

 

Presented alongside Staros’ sculptures is an artist-curated selection of works by Whitney Hubbs, David Korty, Matt Lipps, Fay Ray, and Sara VanDerBeek. Referencing a museological strategy of informing viewers about the practice of the artist through the context of her contemporaries, Staros has selected specific works that consider the representation of desire, violence, gender codes, and institutional tropes of display, all embedded in the materials and images of antiquity.

 

Works
  • Cammie Staros The Weight of Medusa's Head, 2017 Ceramic and steel 69 x 28 x 22 inches
    Cammie Staros
    The Weight of Medusa's Head, 2017
    Ceramic and steel
    69 x 28 x 22 inches
  • Cammie Staros S, 2017 Ceramic, neon, MDF, paint 66 x 22 x 22 inches
    Cammie Staros
    S, 2017
    Ceramic, neon, MDF, paint
    66 x 22 x 22 inches
  • CAMMIE STAROS Eros and Anteros, 2017 Ceramic, MDF, epoxy, paint 48 x 20 x 40 inches
    CAMMIE STAROS
    Eros and Anteros, 2017
    Ceramic, MDF, epoxy, paint
    48 x 20 x 40 inches
  • Cammie Staros A Sharp Intake of Breath, 2017 Ceramic and brass 26.5 x 16 x 16 inches
    Cammie Staros
    A Sharp Intake of Breath, 2017
    Ceramic and brass
    26.5 x 16 x 16 inches
  • Cammie Staros How Neat the Fold of Time, 2017 Ceramic and brass 30 x 13.5 x 13.5 inches
    Cammie Staros
    How Neat the Fold of Time, 2017
    Ceramic and brass
    30 x 13.5 x 13.5 inches
  • Cammie Staros All Quiver and Shake, 2017 Ceramic and Brass 27.5 x 15 x 15 inches
    Cammie Staros
    All Quiver and Shake, 2017
    Ceramic and Brass
    27.5 x 15 x 15 inches
  • Cammie Staros Artemis, 2017 19.5 x 15.25 x 1 inches
    Cammie Staros
    Artemis, 2017
    19.5 x 15.25 x 1 inches
  • CAMMIE STAROS Athena, 2017 Ceramic 23 x 14.25 x 1 inches
    CAMMIE STAROS
    Athena, 2017
    Ceramic
    23 x 14.25 x 1 inches
  • CAMMIE STAROS Hippolyta, Touched, 2017 Ceramic and neon 17 x 21.75 x 1 inches
    CAMMIE STAROS
    Hippolyta, Touched, 2017
    Ceramic and neon
    17 x 21.75 x 1 inches
Installation Views
Press
  • Cammie Staros. Eros and Anteros, 2017

    hyperallergic: Five Outstanding Shows Closing in Los Angeles This Month

    Matt Stromberg, Hyperallergic, December 20, 2017
  • Cammie Staros. she is full of holes to put snakes into to blow smoke out of, 2017

    ignant: cammie staros

    Alice Finney, Ignant, October 25, 2017
  • Cammie Staros. My Soliloquy to Your Chorus, 2017

    Los Angeles times: the sculptures of cammie staros contain beautiful wit

    Leah Ollman, Los Angeles Times, May 8, 2015

Related artist

  • CAMMIE STAROS

    CAMMIE STAROS

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Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles

616 N La Brea Ave

Los Angeles, CA 90036

 

info@shulamitnazarian.com

310.281.0961

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