VINCE PALACIOS

SOUL VINES

MARCH 7 - APRIL 11, 2020

ODD ARK•LA is pleased to present Soul Vines, a solo exhibition of new ceramic works by Vince Palacios. The show will open March 7th, and remain on view through April 11th, 2020. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, March 7th, from 4:00-7:00pm.

In Soul Vines, Palacios has produced a series of clay and glazed vessels that were fired multiple times to create dynamic, colorful and textured surfaces.

In these recent works, natural processes of growth, survival and decay are expressed through the collision and confluence of raw materials - pushed through the process of human intervention. The physicality of the artist’s clay-wrangling and mark-making of improvised forms capture and freeze vine-like tendrils that are in the midst of reaching both inwards and outwards while perched on Palacios’ substantial vessels. And as vines do, they seek and find their way into the world for nourishment and stability. In the natural world, the velocity of this dance is not evident to the eye, yet we know it’s there and its presence is felt. In Palacios’ works, nature's entelechy is not only suspended for our amazement, but it also hints at aspects of humanity's own metaphorical root and vine systems - of seeking and reaching through our own personal evolutions for stability and connection within the arc of civilization’s crawl.

Like many of Palacios’ colleagues in the currently burgeoning field of ‘contemporary ceramics’, his choice to work with the traditional form of a vessel, contextualizes his sculptures in formal aesthetics, while reminding us that clay is a through-line to our primordial past - when early humans first built containment vessels to carry water and food, as well as for ceremonial purposes. Although couched in archetypal abstraction, Palacios’ vessels are also anthropomorphic, teasing glimpses and possibilities of the human body. From certain angles, bulges, protrusions and contours mirror our own bodies, and like our own physical nature, the expression is at times awkward, elegant and impermanent.

Vince Palacios (b.1961, Flint, Michigan) has been working in the fields of ceramics since 1992. Earning his Masters of Ceramic Art from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1994 and his Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics at California State University of Long Beach in 1992. He currently serves as Professor of the Ceramics Department at El Camino College in Torrance, California, and has extensive teaching experience at other Academic Institutions such as the California State University of Long Beach and Western Illinois University amongst others. Palacios has had solo exhibitions AMOCA Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, CA; The Western Illinois University Art Gallery, Malcomb, IL, The Parkland Art Gallery, Champaign, IL; Chosun Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea and Rosewood Arts Center In Ohio amongst others. Palacios continues to exhibit his work both nationally and internationally and is included in several important private collections as well as prominent museum collections such as Alfred University Art Museum, New York; The American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California; JINRO Cultural Foundation, Seoul, Korea; Kapfenberg Cultural Center, Kapfenberg, Austria; Kamm Teapot Foundation, North Carolina; Long Beach Museum of Art, Long beach, CA; Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC and The City Museum of Varazdin in Croatia amongst others.