Lee Renninger
ceramic works
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The Couture Project continues my exploration of clay as fabric through ceramic and fiber based installations that focus on couture. The works of designers such as Balenciaga, Ghesquiere, and Gautier serve as the inspiration for a series of twenty works, some complete garments and some fragments (partial garments) made entirely of porcelain and fiber.
I’ve decided to explore this subject because of my interest in a number of questions: What is the relationship between couture and fine art? Why is fashion such a popular channel for expression today? Does high fashion/couture offer an aesthetic that is lacking in contemporary art?
The three works featured here are the first of this series. Others will be added as they are completed.
Bridal Suite consists of pieces made entirely of unglazed white porcelain and fiber. At first glance, the work is intended to evoke the associations we make when encountering the symbols of the bridal experience—purity, fragility, virginity, fulfillment of promise, etc., but there is also a somewhat sinister cast to this installation. Porcelain, a highly esteemed, expensive and refined material, is somewhat reminiscent of marble, leaving one to ponder whether the bridal suite isn't also something of a mausoleum.
Creating this work was extremely laborious. Each flower, ruffle and element was hand cut, fired and sewn in place. Thousands of individual pieces of porcelain make up this installation, along with countless yards of silk, tulle and thread. This piece is intended to be the first of five room installations.
These works explore clay as fabric and are, in part, inspired by folk art textile traditions. The labor involved in making these pieces is highly repetitive and time consuming—a reference to the historical concept of women’s work and its focus on the home. These works are also inspired by my childhood trips to department stores with my mother where we would leisurely peruse the “domestics” floors with all their fine linens, towels and tablecloths. I remember these items as precious objects—expensive and refined. These feelings prompted me to create many of the works in porcelain—a material that is often more highly esteemed than earthenware or stoneware.