Lacoste Gallery is pleased to present exhibition Ani Kasten: From the Ruins from October 7 - 28 2017. This exhibition focuses on vessels and sculptures that are deconstructed, building on the artist's previous work, 'barely holding together', 'coming apart at the seams', and searching for a cohesive beauty in their tenuous state of existence.
This body of work is composed predominantly with black stoneware, Minnesota blue stone, porcelain, found wood and wire. Continuing her investigation of art mediums, Kasten is interested in the conversation between materials and the tension they present in pre and post production. The finished work reminds the viewer of archaeological findings from ‘ruins’ of Parthenon or civilization of a glorious past. The materials seem barely holding together yet exhibits strength and substance. This is Ani Kasten’s fourth solo exhibition with us.
Hailed from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, Ani Kasten began her artistic career apprenticing for ceramic artist Rupert Spira in the UK. She then headed a stoneware making facility in Nepal for four years before returning to the USA to set up ceramic studios in California, Maryland and Minnesota where she now works and resides. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally with works in the permanent collections of the Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin; the Weisman Art Museum Minneapolis MN; and the Sana' a Collection, the US Embassy, Sana' a Yemen.