Marek Cecula at Garth Clark - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article

Marek Cecula at Garth Clark - New York, New York - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article

Art in America, Dec, 1997by David Ebony

In recent years, ceramist Marek Cecula has moved away from functional designs to concentrate on conceptualist sculpture. His previous New York solo show featured a series of stainless-steel serving trays on which were arranged one or more small white porcelain objects in sleek, organic shapes. Although they are non-functional, these finely honed works suggest antique medical tools. In a written statement, the Polish-born Cecula, who has also worked as an industrial-ceramics designer, says that these sculptures, which he calls the "Scatology" series, are inspired by the porcelain environment of bathrooms and laboratories.

In the five works on view in his recent show, collectively titled "Hygiene," the artist continues to refer to body functions and to hygiene in the era of AIDS. He is still working in series, producing rows or groupings of nearly identical objects. This time, however, his bright-white, clear-glazed porcelain pieces directly reference human body parts.

One of the most striking works on view, Untitled V, features a low table on which are arranged two rows of three bucket like handled containers, each molded in the shape of an idealized but truncated male torso. Here, Cecula uses his formidable technical skills to create with porcelain an absurd and hilarious simulation of vinyl. This group of pristine receptacles, however, conveys a rather daunting image of impotence and sterility.

Untitled I is a series of four wall-hung, rectangular porcelain boxes 16 inches high, each hollowed out and embossed inside with a schematic impression of a head and face. These peculiar objects look like basins used for some sort of facial treatment. Basin shapes appear in a number of other works, such as Untitled III, in which three sink like units are set into low tables. In Untitled II, three porcelain basins rest atop 43-inch-high supports made of thin steel rods. While they look like stylish sinks, they are also biomorphic: at the bottom of each basin, a long narrow appendage resembling a drainpipe suggests the dangling, aroused penis of a horse or cow.

Untitled IV presents a series of three identical hollow porcelain elements in the shape of human male genitalia. Set on a 4-foot-high table, these objects are more like codpieces or bizarre penis sheaths than dildos. Like other works on view, they seem to refer to AIDS. Here, the artist has fashioned, in cold, impenetrable porcelain what must be the ultimate condom.

This exhibition marks a dramatic advance toward the artist s goal of dismantling the barriers between fine and applied art. By using ceramics to address provocative themes, Cecula broadens the expressive possibilities of this most ancient and venerable medium.