Frozen forms: dance inspires Adam Silverman's new sculptural installations
‘For a couple years I've been working on how to have pieces become compositions,’ says ceramic artist Adam Silverman, standing amidst several new sculptural installations at Cherry & Martin, where he just unveiled his debut solo show, ‘Body Language,’ with the Culver City gallery over the weekend. ‘A lot of this was looking at ways to do still-lifes.’
Though the works in this new exhibition, which have been developing for almost a year, aren't overtly referential to any source images or inspirations, they are meant to evoke the gestural and anatomical features of dance.
‘I think about the photography of dance where someone captures a moment that nobody saw or wasn't intended by the dancer. The choreographer is not thinking about it, and it doesn't really exist as a moment. And then sometimes dance stops and something physical and static is created,’ says Silverman, pointing to the pageantry of his new works, most of which are balanced atop stands (of varying heights) made from burnt Japanese shou-sugi-ban lumber. ‘This is a moment of frozen motion, the form is frozen at a certain point, the wheel stops, my hand stops, and then later there's the motion of people around them.’
Inside a little cove in the anterior gallery, Silverman also made a feint at painting with a site-specific installation‚ featuring rolls of tie-dyed indigo denim unspooled down the walls and floors that are fitted with matte blobs of clay glazed in Yves Klein-like blue that almost feels like a bleached out altar from some defunct surf cult. He says it can also be read as a nod to the conceptual arrangements of American dancer Merce Cunningham.
‘I studied architecture but my girlfriend in college was a dancer, so both of those things are always inside me,’ says Silverman, who made the denim with the idea of using it as some type of painting while the clay could work as an assemblage. However, he didn't bring everything together until he was challenged by the architecture of the gallery. ‘When you think about how Merce Cunningham would do choreography it was in a vacuum with someone doing the set, costumes, and music separately and they would merge together in the space.’
More spatial dynamics play out between two indigo glazed pieces in the vestibule that appear to mimic the torsos of dancers (with some decorative elements that evoke some kind of abstract, ancient language).
‘It's two bodies that are creating another body and then a negative space, which is as important as each of the works,’ says Silverman, who typically makes a group of forms that sit unglazed for months until he decides on a technique. To wit, beehive-like works are marked by big brush strokes of green glazes, a piece beneath it is the result of pouring multiple hues of blue; and a crackled white ovoid was made from three different clays smeared over the original form with three different glazes, some of which are chipped off to expose raw patches of clay. Though perhaps the most exciting moments come in the form of his new still-lifes, which balance egg-like forms against rough planar crags. ‘I like how they read flat from the front and then are very spatial from the side,’ says Silverman. ‘There's a lot of violence in it.’
As Jim Morrison once said, violence isn't always evil, it's our infatuation with it that's the problem. Unfortunately for us, it's hard not to be become smitten with Silverman's sexy new body language.
INFORMATION
’Adam Silverman: Body Language’ is on view until 14 May. For more information visit the Cherry and Martin website
ADDRESS
2712 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90034
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Remembering Richard Serra (1938-2024), American art’s man of steel
American artist Richard Serra, whose vast sculptures transformed landscapes around the world, has died aged 85
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Architectural gardens around the world to soothe the soul
From small domestic gardens, to nature reserves, urban interventions and local parks, here are some of the finest green projects that place nature at their heart
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Corfu hotel Domes Miramare redefines beachfront bliss
Make like Jackie O at Corfu hotel Domes Miramare, a property with contemporary luxury and echoes of 1960s glamour in spades
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema
‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
By Anne Soward Published
-
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s LA-made work goes on show at Gagosian
‘Made on Market Street’ at Gagosian in Beverly Hills is the first show to present works made by the young artist between 1982 and 1984
By Hunter Drohojowska-Philp Published
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in America
BLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
By Timothy Anscombe-Bell Published
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrative
In Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzz
Our Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
By Renée Reizman Published
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London
‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
By Hannah Silver Published
-
What happened when Spike Jonze met Björk
Spike Jonze’s ‘The Day I Met Björk’, curated by Humberto Leon, is at Arroz & Fun in Los Angeles and accompanied by a free, downloadable zine from WeTransfer
By Hannah Silver Published
-
New York artist Christopher Astley showcases an alternative natural world
At Martos Gallery in New York, Christopher Astley’s paintings evoke an alternative natural world and the chaos of warfare (until 16 March 2024)
By Tianna Williams Published