Kenneth Baskin’s 20th Century Artifacts at Goldesberry Gallery

Written by Nancy Goldesberry Thursday, 11 March 2010 00:18

HOUSTON, TEXAS - Kenneth Baskin’s 20th Century Artifacts find their inspiration in mechanical objects; these industrial roots are a starting point for explorations of form, motion, and humanity in the Technological Age. In their abstraction and familiarity, instability and balance, they are reminders of the conceptual sophistication that can inhabit the ceramic arts. Goldesberry Gallery will exhibit Kenneth Baskin’s industrially-inspired, intellectual, abstract ceramic sculptures for the month of April, opening March 27 from 6-8 p.m., through April 24, 2010.

The 20th Century Artifacts expand and pare down the forms of the Industrial Revolution and ask the viewer to see them with new eyes, to understand the beauty of line, shape, and form. Altering the scale and shape of these pieces divorces them from their functional roots: not only does it open them to formal contemplation, it invites the viewer to consider his or her own relationships to tools, machinery, and the creation of the human hand. In the 21st century, like the 20th, humans and machines have become interdependent, conjoined. The 20th Century Artifacts are explorations of interrelations and contrasts: motion and stasis, tension and ease, human and machine.

In November of 2009, Baskin’s 20th Century Artifacts were featured on the cover of Ceramics Monthly magazine. Baskin serves as a professor of ceramics at McNeese State University in Louisiana, and holds an M.F.A. in ceramics from the University of South Carolina. He is a recipient of the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts Emerging Artist Award, and has recently returned from a solo exhibition and artist-in-residency at the Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. He has worked, exhibited, and been collected nationally and internationally.

Kenneth Baskin 20th Century Artifacts will open on March 27, 2010, from 6 to 8 p.m. and will remain on view through April 24.

For over 18 years, Goldesberry Gallery has focused on contemporary and cutting-edge fine art in craft media. The gallery now presents a wide variety of three-dimensional work by local, regional, and nationally known artists. Visit : www.goldesberrygallery.com/ or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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