Sheep's Head, Matt Wedel Solo Show at L.A. Louver

 

Today, Thursday April 11th, 2013L.A. Louver Gallery will inaugurate a solo exhibition entitled "Sheep's Head" with new works by Colorado-born Ohio-based artist Matt Wedel.

Wedel, 30, will be showcasing over twenty ceramic sculptures depicting flora, fauna and figures that will be presented throughout L.A. Louver’s first floor galleries and second floor open air Skyroom including four monumentally scaled figurative ambiguous works which form the heart of the exhibition. 

While Wedel focuses on the female form, other figures appear androgynous, and the large-scale flower trees seem to be a strange cross between real succulents and science-fiction growths. Alluding to classical motifs, the sculptures are also entirely contemporary. 

Color is used lavishly: bright yellows, reds, greens and blues abound, and elegant browns and greys gleam with subtle complexity. 

Expressing an intensely deep imagination and inventiveness, Wedel works with a fluidity and very quickly sometimes making twelve pieces at a time, and impressively enough, he works alone without help of studio assistants. 

 "Clay abolishes the time lag between the idea and the object," he said.

L.A. Louver began working with Wedel since 2009 and for the last two year's the gallery has showcased his work in Art Basel leading to international recognition with his pieces entering prominent collections in Britain, Italy, Switzerland and Turkey.

Since the tender age of 2, Wedel began working with his father, a functional ceramicist with whom he developed an early passion for making sculpture. 

With easy access to a wheel and kiln and a beloved and dear teacher by his side, he developed a proficiency with the medium throughout childhood and adolescence. 

In 2007, he received his M.F.A Ceramics from California State University, Long Beach, California and his B.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.