At the 2020 edition of Independent New York, Marianne Boesky  Gallery will exhibit a solo presentation of ceramics by Ghada Amer. The  art fair will be on view from March 5 to March 8, 2020 at  Spring  Studios, 50 Varick Street, New York, and Marianne Boesky Gallery’s booth  will be on the 6th floor. 

While Amer’s embroidered canvases directly confront the dichotomies  of masculine versus feminine and art versus craft, her ceramics have  allowed her more freedom within the medium: “Ceramics allowed me to  finally paint beyond the associations of ‘male’ or ‘female.’ I was able  to feel extremely free and happy, because my gender played no role here  and I could simply enjoy working with paints and a brush,” Amer stated  in a 2018 interview.(1) 

The ceramics on view range from monochrome abstract forms to  wall-hanging plates and free-standing boxes painted with female faces.  The focused presentation both exhibits the breadth of Amer’s oeuvre and  connects the lines of inquiry explored in her ceramics to her practice  at large, including embroidered canvases, bronze and stainless steel  sculptures, and garden installations. 

Describing the essence of her ceramic work, Amer said, “I have a  painterly approach because what interests me the most about ceramics is  that you can produce colored sculptures. I have always attached great  importance to the relationship between sculpture and color. Think of  classic sculptures from Greek and Roman antiquity, but also from the  Romanesque and Gothic eras: they were all painted, even if we have never  been able to see them like that.”(2) 

This is Marianne Boesky Gallery’s first solo presentation of Amer’s work since announcing representation in summer of 2019.

 (1)  Interview with Sebastian Preuss, “About Ceramics and the Joy of  Painting,” Ceramics | Ghada Amer, edited by Justus F. Kewenig. DISTANZ,  2018. Pg. 269.
(2) Ibid. pg. 275.