Katherine Vetne | "Palate Cleanser"

Katherine Vetne: Palate Cleanser

On view November 11 – December 23, 2023 | North Gallery Opening reception: Saturday, November 11 from 3 – 5pm; artist talk at 4pm

San Francisco: Catharine Clark Gallery announces Palate Cleanser, an exhibition of sculpture, metalpoint, and drawing by Katherine Vetne, on view November 11 – December 23, 2023, in the North Gallery. Vetne’s exhibition is the anticipated follow-up to her acclaimed 2019 solo debut at the gallery, Whatever I See I Swallow, and continues her meditation on themes of desire, consumption, and stereotyped notions of mainstream womanhood. In her latest presentation, Vetne imagines a surreal environment in which objects take on an almost fantastic animacy, as if existing in a strange and dreamlike world.

Palate Cleanser presents scenes from an opulent banquet through a series of uneasy still lifes. Vetne’s drawings and sculptures of distorted objects and vacant spaces are permeated by eerie undertones that may conjure tricks of the eye, hallucinations, or apparitions. Using high craft methods executed with traditional materials, Vetne fuses memento mori with contemporary stories of class, gender, and power, as told by objects.

Drawing on the history of vanitas painting, Vetne expands her visual vocabulary to convey a disquieting tension between life and the afterlife. In her intricately detailed metalpoint artwork titled The Centerpiece (2023), Vetne portrays a vase of tulips that seem to be double-exposed, as though the vase was moved mid-capture. The flowers project shadows onto the wall behind, resembling smudges or stains that disrupt an otherwise pristine surface.

In the foreground, Vetne includes a pair of shears positioned beside a freshly cut stem. The handles of the shears face the viewer, as if inviting us to engage in cutting the flowers ourselves. Vetne's composition is exquisitely executed but never tranquil, hinting at the frequent and uneasy coexistence of beauty and violence. Join us for an opening reception on Saturday, November 11 from 3 – 5pm, with an artist talk at 4pm. 10% of artwork sales from Vetne’s show will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Above: Katherine Vetne, The Centerpiece, 2023. Metalpoint, graphite, egg tempera on panel. 56 x 48 inches. Photo: Alan Weiner.

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Katherine Vetne Biography KATHERINE VETNE brings together themes of high craft, art history, consumerism, and gender through her still life-based practice. Vetne received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University and a Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is the recipient of SFAI’s Graduate Fellowship in Painting and the Allan B. Stone Award.

Vetne’s work was featured in Heavy Metal – Women to Watch 2018 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Her 2019 debut solo exhibition at Catharine Clark Gallery Whatever I See I Swallow was supported by an Individual Artist Grant through the San Francisco Arts Commission. Vetne has exhibited her work at CB1 Gallery in Los Angeles; Samson Projects and 808 Gallery, in Boston, MA; CCA Hubbell Street Galleries and 2nd floor projects, in San Francisco, CA; and in Crafting America, a major craft survey exhibition at the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas.

In 2021, Vetne was featured in a major exhibition on contemporary craft at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and in the accompanying catalogue, Crafting America, along with Peter Saenger’s article in the Wall Street Journal, “America Made by Hand”. Her trio of sculptures All This Could Be Yours, Studies I, II, and III were recently acquired by the National Museum of Women in the Arts for its permanent collection, through a gift of The San Francisco Advocacy for the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Katherine Vetne lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, and has been represented by Catharine Clark Gallery since 2019.

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Katherine Vetne, Sconce (Hunting Trophy I), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candelabras, Victorian-era carved shelves with deer hunting trophy motif, graphite.

19 1/4 x 17 1/8 x 8 1/2 inches. $3,800

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Katherine Vetne, Sconce (Hunting Trophy II), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candelabra, Victorian-era hand-carved shelf with fowl hunting trophy motif, graphite.

23 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches. $3,800

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Katherine Vetne, Sconce (Sugarcoat), 2023.

Melted lead crystal, Victorian-era hand-carved shelves, graphite.

15 1/2 x 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches. $3,800

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Katherine Vetne, Sconce (Spine), 2023.

Melted lead crystal vase, Victorian-era hand-carved shelf with fern motif, graphite.

21 x 15 x 7 1/2 inches. $3,800

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Katherine Vetne, Sconce (The Landowner), 2023.

Melted lead crystal lidded candy dish, Victorian-era hand-carved shelf with urn motif, graphite.

19 x 12 3/16 x 7 inches. $3,800

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Katherine Vetne, The Centerpiece, 2023.

Metalpoint (goldpoint, nickel silver brush), graphite, egg tempera on panel.

56 x 48 inches. $18,000

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Katherine Vetne, Meat Tenderizer, 2023.

Graphite on paper.

Sheet: 22 1/4 x 16 1/8 inches; Frame: 25 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches. $3,200

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Katherine Vetne, Palate Cleanser, 2023.

Metalpoint (goldpoint, nickel silver brush), graphite on panel.

30 x 40 inches. $8,800

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Katherine Vetne, The Dessert, 2023.

Metalpoint (goldpoint, nickel silver brush), graphite on panel.

40 x 60 inches. $18,000

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Katherine Vetne, Glass Knife, 2023.

Graphite on paper.

Sheet: 22 1/4 x 16 1/8 inches; Frame: 25 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 1 1/2 inches. $3,200

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Katherine Vetne, The Game, 2023.

Antique table and table legs, light-absorbing paint.

30 x 37 1/2 x 39 inches. $8,000

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ADDITIONAL WORKS AVAILABLE THOUGH EXiT

Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #54 (Candelabra), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candelabra.

5 x 13 x 6 1/2 inches. $1,500

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #55 (Candelabra), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candelabra.

6 1/4 x 13 x 5 inches. $1,500

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #57 (Candelabra), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candelabra.

3 x 12 x 9 1/4 inches. $1,500

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #58 (Candelabra), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candelabra.

4 x 7 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches. $1,300

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #59 (Candelabra), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candelabra.

4 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 8 inches. $1,300

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #60 (Candelabra), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candelabra.

3 x 9 x 6 inches. $1,300

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #62 (Candlestick), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candlestick.

3 x 7 x 3 5/8. $1,100

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #63 (Candlestick), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candlestick.

3 x 6 7/8 x 3 1/2 inches. $1,100

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #64 (Candlestick), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candlestick.

3 1/4 x 5 7/8 x 4 3/8 inches. $1,100

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Katherine Vetne, Indulgence #65 (Candlestick), 2023.

Melted lead crystal candlestick.

3 1/4 x 6 x 4 1/4 inches. $1,100

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