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Edmund de Waal

the poems of our climate

September 20–December 8, 2018
San Francisco

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Installation view

Artwork © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Johnna Arnold

Works Exhibited

Edmund de Waal, a different breath, 2018 27 porcelain vessels and 17 porcelain tiles with platinum and silver gilding in 5 aluminum and glass vitrines, 107 ⅛ × 37 × 4 ¾ inches (271.9 × 94 × 12.1 cm)© Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, a different breath, 2018

27 porcelain vessels and 17 porcelain tiles with platinum and silver gilding in 5 aluminum and glass vitrines, 107 ⅛ × 37 × 4 ¾ inches (271.9 × 94 × 12.1 cm)
© Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, a word, VI, 2018 4 porcelain vessels, 2 porcelain tiles with silver gilding, and 2 steel boxes in a pair of aluminum and plexiglass vitrines, 11 × 22 ½ × 4 inches (27.9 × 57 × 10 cm)© Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce

Edmund de Waal, a word, VI, 2018

4 porcelain vessels, 2 porcelain tiles with silver gilding, and 2 steel boxes in a pair of aluminum and plexiglass vitrines, 11 × 22 ½ × 4 inches (27.9 × 57 × 10 cm)
© Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce

About

I’m trying to come closer to what it feels like to remember a poem, to carry it with you through the decades, a phrase or an image coming into your life and making the world feel denser with possibility.
—Edmund de Waal

Gagosian is pleased to present new works by Edmund de Waal.

In his visual art and his literary works de Waal uses objects—of his own creation as well as found artifacts—as vehicles for narrative, emotion, and history. His installations of porcelain vessels contained in minimalist structures reveal the ways in which simple forms act as repositories of human experience.

De Waal’s lifelong fascination with porcelain, or “white gold,” is deeply entwined with his poetic imagination. Arranged in groups and varying in size and color, his porcelain vessels recall the serial repetitions, lines, and spaces of Donald Judd or Walter De Maria. Yet, drawing on his in-depth study of and engagement with porcelain traditions, de Waal’s works bear the intricate traces of his labor and the objects’ creation, their arrangements variously evoking musical rhythms or the sense of intimate order of a porcelain cabinet.

On view for the first time, the new works in the poems of our climate bring poetry and porcelain vessels together in both physical and conceptual proximity. The cylindrical forms are arranged at intervals, forming topographies that resemble lines on a page or music in a score. Made in black or white, some vitrines recall Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square (1915), in which the pictorial representation of reality was abandoned for pure abstract form. De Waal’s dimensional vitrines, however, become subject to ambient illumination as shadows and reflections are thrown by the objects within them.

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the poems of our climate

the poems of our climate

Edmund de Waal reflects on memory, sound, and the presence of poetry in a new body of work on view at Gagosian, San Francisco.

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.

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