Nippierd Photos/Alf Borjesson.
sometimes trumps singularity. Breaking
with the principle that form follows func-
tion, Anders Ruhwald (Denmark) in
Rib-
bon Room
presents a series of six furniture -
sized ceramic sculptures, glazed in muted
candy colors. The forms can be read as
variations on stools or tables, but with
a cancer introduced into the form-giving
process. Rather than displaying these
as discrete works atop pedestals, a device
that distances the viewer from the object,
Ruhwald has carpeted the floor and cre-
ated “walls” out of alternating pale blue
and white ribbon. Stepping into the “room”
is like stepping onto a pedestal; the viewer
is now implicated into the same space as
the objects.
Louise Nippierd (Norway) works with
aluminum and animal fur to fashion seduc-
tive pieces that hover between extravagant
necklace and restrictive collar. Visually
alluring but unwieldy, they remind us of the
discomfort of looking good. Nippierd de-
nies the wearer the expected pleasure of fur
by turning it away from contact with the
skin; the owner of the work thus suffers
along with the animals.
In organizing “Irreverent,” curator
Kate Eilertsen provides us with the oppor-
tunity to reconsider our increasingly desta-
bilized ideas about art, craft and design.
By collecting an array of objects that are in
some way rooted to craft through tech-
niques and materials, she helps us see beyond
the everyday functional nature of the work
into that interesting border between func-
tional and sculptural objects. Thus are we
encouraged to consider the ways that the
things we surround ourselves with con-
tribute as much to the way we think and or-
ganize our world as the visual culture that
bombards us daily. +
Above left to right:
Eva Hild,
Billow2 ,
2007,
ceramic jh. 23
V-
in,
w. 27V2 in, d.
27V2
in);
Louise Nippierd,
Creature Chaos
{h. 13 in,
w. 19 in, d. 19 in} and
IV ildat Heart {
h. 19 in,
w. 24 in, d. 24 in}, both
2003, metal, fur.
Right:
Anni Rapinoja,
Coat o f Mother Earth
,
2008, common reed,
pussy willow, jh. 50%
in, w. 39 in, d. i7‘/2 in}.
apr/may09
american craft 039
