Shulamit Nazarian is pleased to present Senescent Stone, a new series of free-standing and wall-based ceramics by Los Angeles-based artist Charles Snowden. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
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Charles SnowdenSenescent Stone, 2022ceramic, glaze25 x 9 x 12 in
63.5 x 22.9 x 30.5 cm -
At the center of the gallery, a number of sculptures are arranged on an elliptical plinth that equally references a table and a tomb. In lieu of the ceramic amphorae used in the Greco-Roman context to contain food, drink, and remains of the deceased, Snowden substitutes enlarged, gesturing hands as vessels for garden creatures. Frogs and butterflies stand in for symbols of metamorphosis, while other organisms carry the role of transformation deeper. Snakes and spiders, for example, imply a constant duality: by consuming and threatening other living things, these predators create greater harmony in gardens.
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The existential weight of apotropaic objects and accompanying rituals is counterbalanced with humor across several pieces. In Harbinger, a snail’s face is replaced by a human one, but with dog ears. Another snail morphs into a human hand reaching for a worm-stuffed dog toy in Slow Journey. Though these absurd chimeras are nonsensical, they capture the pathos of Snowden’s practice.
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In a series of additive reliefs on the surrounding walls, Snowden again turns to historical rituals that engage with mortality relative to the body and garden. These works appropriate an ancient Roman ritual in which floors covered in food scraps were left unswept, leaving the food to spoil as a memento mori and an offering for those passed. In Nodding Tendril, worms burrow through fruits and vegetables littered over patterned tile as vines spring from holes in the stone, suggesting a flourishing ecosystem below the architecture.
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