A Tale of Plant & Pot
April, 2014
With ‘A Tale of Plant & Pot,’ Chariots on Fire re-imagines the essential relation of art and nature.
The show itself—a collection of over 100 living-sculptures—is summoned into existence by Chariots on Fire, who commissioned L.A.-based potter Adam Silverman to create a set of work for ‘plant-artist’ Kohei Oda to fill.
It is a match-making predicated on the aspect of uncommon, yet potentially-fertile, exploration and exchange . . .
For ‘A Tale of Plant & Pot,’ Silverman began with that most basic element of nature: the earth. The glazed pots he’s produced are evidence of the aesthetic ‘dualities’ for which Silverman is long-recognized: “beautiful and ugly, refined and unpredictable, resolved and organic . . . ” (Shepard Fairey).
Each completed pot passed from Silverman’s hands directly to Oda’s. It is Oda’s practice to work with plants that offer-forth their own ‘personalities’: he salvages rare or ‘damaged’ cacti, grafting them to other, thriving species; each new (and ever-evolving) form has been paired with one of Silverman’s pots.
In keeping with the Chariots on Fire philosophy—of harmonizing past with present, near with far, familiar with unfamiliar—the first showing of ‘A Tale of Plant & Pot’ launched in Venice, California in March of 2014. Overwhelming demand led to a second installment in October of the same year, with Chariots on Fire selecting to re-contextualize the show altogether, staging it across seven separate locales throughout Kyoto’s historic districts.
It is a decision not so much site-specific as site-empathetic: the various and shifting environments—from prototypical, white-walled gallery to spaces in clear display of their own, deeply-lived histories—expanding the boundaries of how art might be presented and encountered.
With ‘A Tale of Plant & Pot,’ Chariots on Fire’s initiates a remarkable, startling serendipity. The work of its two artists challenges us to ‘see-anew’ the elements of plant and pot; what emerges is a form of beauty both entirely singular and ‘perfectly-imperfect’ . . .
All works are now in Private collections.
Contributors: Adam Silverman, Qusamura (Kohei Oda), Tamotsu Yagi Design, Ko Kado, Oriana Reich, Ritsuko Yagi.
Kyoto locations: Kamisoe, Kanei, Books & Things, Zen Cafe—Kagizen, Fuka, Mitate, Naito Gion.
April 27 2014 — May 7 2014
at Chariots on Fire, Venice.
October 18 — October 31 2014
at Kamisoe, Kanei, Books & Things, Zen Cafe—Kagizen, Fuka, Mitate, Naito Gion, Kyoto, Japan.