Adam Silverman: Ground Control

A DA M

S I LV E R M A N

GROUND CONTROL

FRIEDMAN BENDA 515 WEST 26TH STREET NEW YORK NY 10001

A ROLLING STONE, PATIENTLY GATHERING MOSS: Entering the work of Adam Silverman Nader Tehrani It is always comforting to be able to enter into someone’s work — to make it legible, available, and accessible.

And yet, much of the substance of art is to resist easy entry, if only to defer consumption on the one hand, or at least to delay it in the service of the many forms of cognition that art can release. In this delay, one can see a form of redemption, something that can challenge, produce new forms of knowledge, or even just tweak our subjectivity. Coming from the architectural realm, I will invariably slip into interpretations that are biased by my disciplinary predispositions; it may not hurt that Adam Silverman comes from a common background, but that would also limit the reading in the context of his panoramic capacity. The work of Silverman denies the immediacy of access, deferring meaning in any strict sense to capture the attention of its audience in a state of anticipation, beckoning readings of his artifacts in a delicate suspense between objects and the processes that make them come to life.

Silverman emerged from the arts into architecture, but then took a turn towards the world of apparel, and not without significant success. His eventual departure from the clothing company he co-founded, to the realm of ceramics would seem like a complete reversal of direction. However, if all these disciplines suggest media that are substantially different, they all come together in an investment in “making” as an intellectual enterprise. Maybe the one difference that ceramics offered Silverman was the element of personal control: the power to calibrate the content of his work, while patiently building its audience as part of the act of making. If the biographical is not a convincing route from which to map this trajectory, then what it demonstrates, at least, is a protean sensibility that is able to navigate questions of materiality, fabrication and the means and methods that each chapter in his life has brought to him. Though the varied media in which he has worked have their own instrumentality, one can also see the way in which certain themes may be translated from one to the other: namely, the way in which the idea of structure and surface establish a dialogue through each art form. While each medium will offer a radically different set of technical constraints, they come together in an intellectual dialogue that Silverman weaves together across time.

If the discipline of architecture has always required a mediated relationship to the things we build — by way of models, drawings, and mockups, the realm of apparel bridges the gap between the meticulous control of the tailor on the one hand, and the advent of mass production on the other. In his transition to pottery, the entire relation to industry, collaboration and external constraints are somehow reframed, as he, himself focuses Boolean Valley: Collaboration by Adam Silverman and Nader Tehrani, Nasher Scultpure Center, Texas, 2010

on guiding the challenges of building through

the internalities of the medium itself — by way of the hand, the kiln, and the material composition of clay as foundation. Effectively, the trajectory brings him back to the irreducible aspects of a medium: spinning, firing, and post-production surface manipulation, all elements of production that can become the basis of a patient inquiry.

In pottery, spinning offers the centrifugal inevitability of a figure in the round; it also produces constraints that guide proportion, shape and reach. However, maybe more importantly, it defines the certainty of an

objet-type around which Silverman can experiment; its platonic clarity and archetypical qualities are, at once, pure, recognizable and incontestable. They neither offer resistance, nor need for elaboration, at least as a point of departure. From there on, it is pure warfare and uncertainty; with mallets, baseballs bats and fists, Silverman unleashes his own force onto the orbs he has handled with such care, pushing them just short of their yield point. Then, added layers of clay, varied in thickness and color are applied onto the bruised foundational shell, melding into its constitution. Silverman produces a tension between the configuration of the surface and the figure of the vessel such that the qualities of the former begin to challenge the structure of the latter.

It is here that his platonic geometries are confronted with the advent of nature, by way of artifice: through a layered process of glazing and firing, Silverman dissimulates the effects of perfection that are an innate part of his craft. Each glaze and chemical admixture has different results, some more and some less desirable, and yet they all play a critical part in the game of improvisation, systemic play, and an outcome that has as much to do with the identification of an uncanny artifact as its stealth presence — camouflaged as a geological mass. That nature should serve as an inspiration for art is nothing new, since many eras have grappled with seeing the world through varied lenses, groping with vision through mimesis, perspective, color, and figuration. But if each process involves its own techniques, then they also are in service of a representational aim. Instead, Silverman takes nature as geological substance, and the systemic pulverization of his surfaces, the crafting of sedimentation, and the erosion of the geographic terrain on which he works is not so much in conversation with representational goals (even if that is it’s delightful by-product), but rather a recreation of natural phenomena through an alchemic process. The tension between artifice and nature, then, is one of the curious and productive aspects of his process; in turn, each object can be seen as an index of the experimental protocols that they undergo. In a medium that is, more often than not, part of a “kind and gentle” culture of craft, it is also a refreshing advent to witness the punishment and brutality of a process that can yield aesthetic reappraisal — tipping it into critical discourse.

Adam Silverman’s investment is in the process of working his process. He shows no anxiety of getting ‘there’, as his pleasure is precisely in the incertitude of the working path. Though the results may vary and even fail, his greatest moments come at the threshold of collapse. He is neither married to medium, nor to the singularity of discipline; however, he is adopting and internalizing the constraints of each to its maximum potential. As he travels from one art form to another, his ceramic orbs are akin to rolling stones, but with the luxury of gathering the moss of the varied disciplines he carries as part of his kit of intellectual tools.

Boolean Valley: Collaboration by Adam Silverman and Nader Tehrani, Nasher Scultpure Center, Texas, 2010

ADAM SILVERMAN: Ground Control Brooke Hodge In early 2014, Adam Silverman reestablished a solo studio practice in Glendale, California (a small city that is essentially a suburb of Los Angeles). For five years prior, he had been studio director for Heath Ceramics, working on his own pottery and on Heath works from a studio in the company’s mid-city L.A. location. The move back to a studio of his own proved to be a major catalyst for his work, liberating him to explore the limits of his chosen medium with greater freedom and creativity.

Silverman’s new studio occupies an airy 4400 square-foot space that once served as an auto body shop and later as a printing press. The space is open and light with high ceilings and it’s clear that its openness has influenced how Silverman works. Not only does the new space give him the ability to work on multiple projects at once, it is also having an impact on the sheer nature of the work itself. Silverman is working bigger and more freely than ever before.

Throwing his pots on a wheel makes only so many forms possible. Silverman notes that his iterations of orbs, spheres, cylinders and their corresponding openings reflect “super basic geometries.” By pushing their surfaces to extremes, Silverman is able to counteract these geometries and create new vernaculars. For many years Silverman has focused on experimenting with various chemicals and firing and finishing techniques like burning, grinding, dipping and multi-firing to create bubbly, gritty, highly tactile surfaces that give his pots a jolie-laide (or “beautiful ugly”) elemental appearance often recalling lunar outcroppings or marine lava.

With each new body of work, Silverman continues to experiment and improvise with glazes — every year introducing several new ones to his repertoire. By adding a few new letters to the alphabet, I can write new words, is how he describes it. What is noticeably new about Silverman’s work is that the shapes of his pots are now catching up with the inventiveness of their glazes. The forms are now more organic and unexpected as Silverman allows himself the freedom to challenge the geometric envelope. There is a new confidence and maturity to the work.

Adam Silverman’s Studio, CA, 2015 Photography: Manfredi Gioacchini

Trained as an architect, there is a strong connection for Silverman between buildings and pots. Working on a potter’s wheel, the inside space and exterior forms are simultaneously borne. Thick, impasto-like exteriors with their drips, bubbles, and cracks are reminiscent of cast-concrete building exteriors. In contrast, some pieces feature refined ground-down glazes, often translucent in appearance, that act almost as architectural curtain walls, revealing more of a pot’s essential structure. The pure geometry of the earlier work has a kinship to the pure forms of Silverman’s architectural heroes — Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, and Tadao Ando — yet his new work is more liberated from the proverbial box, just as Le Corbusier was at Ronchamp.1 The new pieces, most of which don’t even have openings at the top, are irregular, misshapen, and yet there is a still a foot to each piece, which allows one’s eye to put everything back together again. Silverman is so adept at throwing pots that he is comfortable taking off the gloves and attacking the underlying forms: puncturing, pummeling, and punching the wet clay from inside out. While there is certainly a pugilistic aggression to this process, the resulting pieces have an uncanny airiness and lightness to them, with some of the pieces even appearing soft and pillow-like. The glazes, too, often seem finer, more layered and sheer, and sometimes even shiny and polished. Silverman often counteracts this refinement by laying a necklace of crusty clay bits in a contrasting color around a pot’s opening or collar. Some of the finished pieces lie horizontally on the ground like a bundle swaddled in gauze, while others stand tall and stately.

Working in a much larger, more open space has led Silverman to renew his interest in creating extensive compositions in clay. He has the room to see many pieces or pots at once and to move them around, playing with various configurations and relationships as he composes smaller tabletop or wall-mounted tableaux that nod to the still life paintings of Giorgio Morandi or larger landscape-scaled compositions. Silverman is currently working on the design of an outdoor meditation garden for a cancer center. Meant to be a quiet place of reflection for patients and their families, the garden takes the form of a group of islands that can be viewed from the center’s treatment rooms or experienced up close on the ground.

1

Le Corbusier’s chapel at Ronchamp (1955) is a fluid organic structure with curves and folds and is distinctly different from his

refined modernist, highly rectilinear earlier work such as the Villa Savoye of 1931.

Each of the five islands is populated with clay objects of varying shapes and sizes and seen as a whole, the composition gives a sense of both individuality and connection. The clay objects are like figures frozen in motion, as if a photographer has captured dancers in mid-movement. Strong and tranquil, one is reminded of Ryoan-ji, one of the iconic Zen rock gardens in Kyoto, where there is a poignant sense of both presence and absence.

For this exhibition at Friedman Benda, Silverman chose the title Ground Control in homage to David Bowie, as a reference to clay and its origins in the ground, and as a strategy to installing the show in the gallery. As Silverman lets go, the imprecise off-kilter shapes of his pots become more expressive and less pot-like, and yet there is still a strong underlying sense of control—especially in compositions like the meditation garden, and in the formal groupings Silverman favors.

For Ground Control, Silverman has created an unusual installation using long pieces of deep indigo blue denim that hang like curtains against the wall and continue onto the floor. The denim panels are splotched with white and lumpy clumps of clay in deep, glossy, purpley blue glaze adhere to them in places, as if the wet clay was thrown against the fabric and dried there. On the ground more of the blue clay mounds and small balls form groups that recall the islands of the meditation garden. This powerful piece is messy, even chaotic in its beauty and it’s here that Silverman really goes for it, letting loose with his clay and creating a seemingly uncontrolled piece that is the perfect counterpoint to the refined, austere groupings of his sculptural clay pieces.

Silverman’s big, airy studio has not only given him the room to work on a bigger scale but it’s evident that he now has the creative space to make some magic as he thinks more expansively and passionately about his chosen medium and its almost limitless potential. Whether strikingly sculptural and controlled or deeply expressive and personal, like the clay and denim installation, Silverman’s work has undergone a transformation as he pushes the medium of ceramics to an exhilarating new level.

D R AW I N G S

Glaze and Form Study, 2016 Mixed Media 9 x 12 inches 22.86 x 30.48 cm

Glaze and Form Study, 2016 Mixed Media 9 x 12 inches 22.86 x 30.48 cm

Glaze and Form Study, 2016 Mixed Media 9 x 12 inches 22.86 x 30.48 cm

Glaze and Form Study, 2015 Mixed Media 9 x 12 inches 22.86 x 30.48 cm

Glaze and Form Study, 2015 Mixed Media 9 x 12 inches 22.86 x 30.48 cm

Glaze and Form Study, 2015 Mixed Media 9 x 12 inches 22.86 x 30.48 cm

WORKS

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 27.5 x 13.5 x 13.5 inches 69.9 x 34.3 x 34.3 cm 19

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 19 x 11.5 x 11.5 inches 48.3 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm 21

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 17 x 13.25 x 14 inches 43.2 x 33.7 x 35.6 cm 23

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 9 x 7 x 4.5 inches 22.9 x 17.8 x 11.4 cm 25

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 26 x 16 x 16 inches 66 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm 27

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 32.25 x 15.5 x 16 inches 81.9 x 39.4 x 40.6 cm 29

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 26.25 x 13.5 x 13.5 inches 66.7 x 34.3 x 34.3 cm 31

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16.5 x 11.5 x 11.5 inches 41.9 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm 33

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 36.5 x 15 x 15 inches 92.7 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm 35

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 15.5 x 13.5 x 13 inches 39.4 x 34.3 x 33 cm 37

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 19 x 11 x 11 inches 48.3 x 27.9 x 27.9 cm 39

Untitled, 2015-2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 28 x 14.5 x 14.5 inches 71.1 x 36.8 x 36.8 cm 41

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 15.5 x 14 x 14 inches 39.4 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm 43

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 14.75 x 27 x 13 inches 37.5 x 68.6 x 33 cm 45

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 17.75 x 15 x 15 inches 45.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm 47

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 13 x 12 x 11.25 inches 33 x 30.5 x 28.6 cm 49

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16 x 14 x 14 inches 40.6 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm 51

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16 x 11.25 x 12 inches 40.6 x 28.6 x 30.5 cm 53

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 48.5 x 16 x 16 inches 123.2 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm 55

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16.75 x 12 x 12 inches 42.5 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm 57

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 13 x 15 x 15 inches 33 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm 59

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 18.5 x 12 x 12 inches 47 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm 61

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 36 x 15 x 15 inches 91.4 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm 63

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16.5 x 13 x 13.5 inches 41.9 x 33 x 34.3 cm 65

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 12 x 12 x 12 inches 30.5 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm 67

Untitled, 2015 Stoneware and burnt wood 25 x 14.75 x 14.75 inches 63.5 x 37.5 x 37.5 cm 69

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 18.25 x 11.5 x 11.5 inches 46.4 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm 71

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 47.5 x 15.5 x 14.5 inches 120.7 x 39.4 x 36.8 cm 73

Untitled, 2015 Stoneware 10 x 16 x 24 inches 25.4 x 40.6 x 61 cm 75

LIST OF WORKS

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 27.5 x 13.5 x 13.5 inches 69.9 x 34.3 x 34.3 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 19 x 11.5 x 11.5 inches 48.3 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 17 x 13.25 x 14 inches 43.2 x 33.7 x 35.6 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 9 x 7 x 4.5 inches 22.9 x 17.8 x 11.4 cm

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Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 26 x 16 x 16 inches 66 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 32.25 x 15.5 x 16 inches 81.9 x 39.4 x 40.6 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 26.25 x 13.5 x 13.5 inches 66.7 x 34.3 x 34.3 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16.5 x 11.5 x 11.5 inches 41.9 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm

Page 27

Page 29

Page 31

Page 33

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 36.5 x 15 x 15 inches 92.7 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 15.5 x 13.5 x 13 inches 39.4 x 34.3 x 33 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 19 x 11 x 11 inches 48.3 x 27.9 x 27.9 cm

Untitled, 2015-2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 28 x 14.5 x 14.5 inches 71.1 x 36.8 x 36.8 cm

Page 35

Page 37

Page 39

Page 41

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 15.5 x 14 x 14 inches 39.4 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 14.75 x 27 x 13 inches 37.5 x 68.6 x 33 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 17.75 x 15 x 15 inches 45.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm

Page 43

Page 45

Page 47

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 13 x 12 x 11.25 inches 33 x 30.5 x 28.6 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16 x 14 x 14 inches 40.6 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16 x 11.25 x 12 inches 40.6 x 28.6 x 30.5 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 48.5 x 16 x 16 inches 123.2 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm

Page 49

Page 51

Page 53

Page 55

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16.75 x 12 x 12 inches 42.5 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 13 x 15 x 15 inches 33 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 18.5 x 12 x 12 inches 47 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 36 x 15 x 15 inches 91.4 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm

Page 57

Page 59

Page 61

Page 63

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 16.5 x 13 x 13.5 inches 41.9 x 33 x 34.3 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 12 x 12 x 12 inches 30.5 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm

Untitled, 2015 Stoneware and burnt wood 25 x 14.75 x 14.75 inches 63.5 x 37.5 x 37.5 cm

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware 18.25 x 11.5 x 11.5 inches 46.4 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm

Page 65

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Page 69

Page 71

Untitled, 2016 Stoneware and burnt wood 47.5 x 15.5 x 14.5 inches 120.7 x 39.4 x 36.8 cm

Untitled, 2015 Stoneware 10 x 16 x 24 inches 25.4 x 40.6 x 61 cm

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ADAM SILVERMAN Present

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

1988

BARCH, Rhode Island School of Design

1987

BFA, Rhode Island School of Design

1963

Born, New York, NY

Select Solo Exhibitions 2016

Ground Control, Friedman Benda, New York, NY

Tomio Koyama, Tokyo, Japan

Body Language, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA

2015

Glendale Work, Curator’s Cube, Tokyo, Japan

2013

Earth, Play Mountain, Tokyo, Japan Space, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Clay and Space, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA

2012

Reverse Archeology, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX New Pots and Sculpture, Edward Cella Art & Architecture Gallery,

Photography: Adrian Gaut

Los Angeles, CA

2011

LACMA Edition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

2010

Hold It, Play Mountain, Tokyo, Japan Boolean Valley, The Nasher Sculpture Center (Collaboration with Nader Tehrani), Dallas, TX

2009

Boolean Valley, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) (Collaboration with Nader Tehrani), Los Angeles, CA

2008

Nature Morte, Tomio Koyama Gallery - Tokyo, Japan Boolean Valley, San Jose Museum of Art Installation (Collaboration with Nader Tehrani)

High Function, Play Mountain, Tokyo, Japan New Pots, Pulliam Deffenbaugh, Portland, OR 2007

New Pots, Pulliam Deffenbaugh, Portland, OR LightBox/ Kim Light, Los Angeles, CA Ceramic Work, Starnet Zone, Mashiko, Japan

2006

New Work from Atwater Pottery, Tomio Koyama Gallery TKG Editions, Tokyo, Japan

Atwater Pottery Exhibition, Play Mountain Villa, Tokyo, Japan New Work from Atwater Pottery, Flux Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Select Group Exhibitions 2015

Try again. Fail again. Fail better, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA

Eight Ceramic Artists, Tomino Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2014

More Material, Salon 94, New York, NY (curated by Duro Olowu)

2013

Function Dysfunction, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Tomio Koyama Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

2012

Man-Made Vessels by California Craftsmen, Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA

2011

High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA

California Cool, Peel Gallery, Houston, TX

Select Public Collections Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI

A DA M

S I LV E R M A N

GROUND CONTROL

Design: Olivia Swider Photography: Adam Silverman, Manfredi Gioacchini, Tanner Trowbridge for Adam Silverman Studio, Adrian Gaut Printing: Puritan Press

Published by Friedman Benda 515 West 26th Street New York, NY 10001 Tel. + 1 212 239 8700 www.friedmanbenda.com Content copyright of Friedman Benda and the artist.

Printed on the occasion of the exhibition Ground Control, May 5 - June 11, 2016.

Printed in a limited edition of 250