THE STACKS

About the Exhibition

The Stacks was co-curated by gallery director Nicole Seisler and Los Angeles writer Andy Anderegg. The show explores one of clay’s earliest functions: the ability to hold writing. Seisler selected visual artists and Anderegg selected poets and fiction writers, who were then paired for the show. Each writer published a chapbook; and each visual artist made ceramic furniture (a shelf or seating) in response. The resulting sculptural works function as a visual index—an alternative card catalog—that organizes, displays and reveals the writing. For this exhibition, A-B Projects should be considered as a local branch of your public library (open Saturdays 2-5pm, and by appointment), where you are encouraged to peruse The Stacks at your leisure.

 On January 11th, exhibiting artist and gallery assistant Kenna Dworsky will co-lead the third State of Ceramics with gallery director Nicole Seisler. State of Ceramics is an ongoing series of discussions centered around evaluating the present and future of the ceramics field. These discussions are free and open to the public—the clay community and the clay curious—and are intended to be informal, open, and inclusive dialogues where participants are encouraged to share their unique perspectives and voices. This particular discussion will focus upon ways in which traditional function is being used in service of conceptual content. This is intended to be less of a debate about the merits of utility and more of an opportunity to think through broad perspectives of what functionality can mean and how it contributes to contemporary ceramics.

A-B Projects would like to thank Los Angeles Print Shop for generously donating time and resources to publish the 300 chapbooks available in this exhibition.