Menu

Edmund de Waal

ten thousand things

January 14–February 18, 2016
Beverly Hills

 Play Button
Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Jeff McLane

Works Exhibited

Edmund de Waal, the ten thousand things, for John Cage, XX, 2015 3 porcelain vessels and Cor-Ten steel block in aluminum box, 17 11/16 × 17 11/16 × 7 ½ inches (45 × 45 × 19 cm)© Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal, the ten thousand things, for John Cage, XX, 2015

3 porcelain vessels and Cor-Ten steel block in aluminum box, 17 11/16 × 17 11/16 × 7 ½ inches (45 × 45 × 19 cm)
© Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal, a lecture on the weather, 2015 290 porcelain vessels in wood, aluminum, and glass vitrine, 41 ⅝ × 62 ⅜ × 4 5/16 inches (105.7 × 158.4 × 11 cm)© Edmund de Waal, photo by Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, a lecture on the weather, 2015

290 porcelain vessels in wood, aluminum, and glass vitrine, 41 ⅝ × 62 ⅜ × 4 5/16 inches (105.7 × 158.4 × 11 cm)
© Edmund de Waal, photo by Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, a lecture on the weather, 2015 (detail) 290 porcelain vessels in wood, aluminum, and glass vitrine, 41 ⅝ × 62 ⅜ × 4 5/16 inches (105.7 × 158.4 × 11 cm)© Edmund de Waal, photo by Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, a lecture on the weather, 2015 (detail)

290 porcelain vessels in wood, aluminum, and glass vitrine, 41 ⅝ × 62 ⅜ × 4 5/16 inches (105.7 × 158.4 × 11 cm)
© Edmund de Waal, photo by Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, to speak to you, 2015 17 porcelain vessels and 10 Cor-Ten steel blocks in aluminum cabinet, 35 7/16 × 43 5/16 × 7 ⅞ inches (90 × 110 × 20 cm)© Edmund de Waal, photo by Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, to speak to you, 2015

17 porcelain vessels and 10 Cor-Ten steel blocks in aluminum cabinet, 35 7/16 × 43 5/16 × 7 ⅞ inches (90 × 110 × 20 cm)
© Edmund de Waal, photo by Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, black milk, 2015 237 porcelain vessels in a pair of wood, aluminium, and glass vitrines, Overall: 108 × 100 ⅜ × 5 ½ inches (274.5 × 255 × 13.5 cm)© Edmund de Waal, photo by Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, black milk, 2015

237 porcelain vessels in a pair of wood, aluminium, and glass vitrines, Overall: 108 × 100 ⅜ × 5 ½ inches (274.5 × 255 × 13.5 cm)
© Edmund de Waal, photo by Mike Bruce

About

For this new body of work, I have made a series of conversations about materials with architectural space. How people walk through spaces, how they encounter what I make, how it is possible to make work to pause the world a little, is my imperative. At its core is one simple question: it is about what it means to belong in one place at one time.
—Edmund de Waal

Gagosian Beverly Hills is pleased to present new works by Edmund de Waal for his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles.

De Waal’s art and literature speak to his enduring fascination with the nature of objects, and the narratives of their collection and display. A potter since childhood and an acclaimed writer, his obsession with porcelain or “white gold” has led to encounters with many people and places that help deepen his understanding of the nature of the material. His latest book, The White Road: Journey into an Obsession (2015), traces the historical evolution of porcelain from its origin in Jingdezhen, China, through developments in Venice, Versailles, Dresden, Cornwall, and the Cherokee Country of South Carolina.

From simple pairs to complex multitudes of small objects, de Waal draws inspiration from many sources, including the poetry of Paul Celan and the musical compositions of John Cage. At the heart of this exhibition is a series of responses to the Schindler House on Kings Road in Los Angeles; a revolutionary building from 1922 by the Viennese émigré architect, Rudolph Schindler. For de Waal, the Schindler House is “improvisatory architecture,” which offered a new way of living and working, a new set of possibilities for materials, a new architecture for a new city. It was here that, according to de Waal, Cage “began to clear his mind.”

Read more

Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes

to light, and then return—: A Night of Poetry with Edmund de Waal, Elisa Gonzalez, Terrance Hayes, and Sally Mann

Gagosian presented an evening of poetry inside to light, and then return—, an exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann, inspired by each other’s practices, at Gagosian, New York. In this video—taking the artists’ shared love of poetry, fragments, and metamorphosis as a point of departure—poets Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes read a selection of their recent works that resonate with the themes of elegy and historical reckoning in the show. The evening was moderated by Jonathan Galassi, chairman and executive editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Axel Salto looking at the sculpture The Core of Power in the kiln, 1956

Axel Salto: Playing with Fire

On the occasion of the forthcoming exhibition Playing with Fire: Edmund de Waal and Axel Salto, Edmund de Waal composed a series of reflections on the Danish ceramicist Axel Salto and his own practice.

Five white objects lined up on a white shelf

to light, and then return—Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann

This fall, artists and friends Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann will exhibit new works together in New York. Inspired by their shared love of poetry, fragments, and metamorphosis, the works included will form a dialogue between their respective practices. Here they meet to speak about the origins and developments of the project.

Edmund de Waal, stone for two hands and water, 2021, Hornton stone, bamboo, and water, 27 ⅜ × 56 ¾ × 23 ⅝ inches (69.5 × 144 × 60 cm), installation view, Henry Moore Studios & Gardens, Perry Green, England

The Thinking Hand

Edmund de Waal speaks with Richard Calvocoressi about touch in relation to art and our understanding of the world, and discusses the new stone sculptures he created for the exhibition This Living Hand: Edmund de Waal Presents Henry Moore, at the Henry Moore Studios & Gardens. Their conversation took place at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, in the context of the exhibition The Human Touch.

Edmund de Waal and Theaster Gates

Artist to Artist: Edmund de Waal and Theaster Gates

Join the artists for an extended conversation about their most recent exhibitions, their forebears in the world of ceramics, and the key role that history plays in their practices.

Installation view, Edmund de Waal: some winter pots, Gagosian, Davies Street

Edmund de Waal: some winter pots

Join the artist in his ceramics studio as he describes the impetus behind his exhibition in London and the importance of touch in the creation of these new works.

News

Photo: Tom Jamieson

Artist Spotlight

Edmund de Waal

October 27–November 2, 2021

In his visual art and literary works, Edmund de Waal uses objects as vehicles for human narrative, emotion, and history. His installations of handmade porcelain vessels, often contained in minimalist structures, investigate themes of diaspora, memory, and materiality. Much of his practice is concerned with collecting and collections—how objects are brought together and dispersed—and with the application of craft and placement to the physical and conceptual transformation of interior space. Manifest across his work is a distinct aesthetic philosophy that puts the hand, touch, and thus the human above all else.

Photo: Tom Jamieson