CHANCE ENCOUNTERS IV

'For something to be contemporary it needs to reflect both the past and the future', says Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of LOEWE.

For Art Basel Miami 2018, the LOEWE FOUNDATION presents the fourth exhibition in its Chance Encounters series, bringing together disparate yet resonant works by Andrea Büttner, Ian Godfrey and Anne Low to prompt unexpected, cross-discipline conversations. Showcasing a range of ceramics, hand-woven textiles and woodcut printing, the exhibition reveals how the use of outmoded techniques can create vital dialogues with the present.

The exhibition runs from 4 December 2018 - 1 February 2019 at LOEWE's Miami Design District store, which is designed around a monumental 18th century Portuguese granary.

LOEWE
Miami Design District
110 NE 39th Street,
Suite #102

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Andrea Büttner

Recently nominated for the Turner Prize, German artist Andrea Büttner presents a series of large-scale woodcut prints depicting modifs that reoccur throughout her work. including the beggar and the diver.

Often honing in on the humble, or the overlooked, Büttner has engaged wirh notions of humility, shame, religious belief and custom, as a lens through which to explore contemporary society and her own role as an artist within it.

Büttner is interested in the woodcut technique for the way in which it brings the worlds of handcraft and mass-production together, whilist her works for the exhibition will be realised at an impressively grand scale.

Ian Godfrey

The exhibition provides a major opportunity to reassess the work of British ceramicist Ian Godfrey (1942-1992), bringing together over 100 pieces of his intricately crafted ceramic sculptures.

Taught by both Lucie Rie and Hans Coper - masters pf British studio ceramics - Godfrey was singled out early for his unique approach, which eschewed the traditional hand-built or wheel-thrown forms in favour of hand-carved clay. Spending hours on each piece, Godfrey carved nearly dry clay to create intricate worlds populated by exotic animals, architecture and miniature landscapes that draw the viewer in with childlike wonder. Seeking inspiration form pre-historical and ancient Chinese vessels, his forms are imbued with a ritualistic or ceremonial charge.

With an ever-growing influence on contemporary artists who are looking to ceramic traditions as a point of reference, Godfrey's work is finally beginnging to receive the recognition it deserves.

Anne Low

For the 18th century granary itself, the LOEWE FOUNDATION has commissioned a new installation by artist Anne Low, which responds directly to its architectural characteristics.

Low incorporates several craft traditions in her work, including hand-printing and glass and metal casting, however weaving remains her primary focus. She is trained in hand-weaving methods that originated in Europe in the 18th and uses historical techniques to explore how craft traditions continue to determine notions of taste and value in contemporary society.

For this new commission, Low has created an installation that 'suggests a historical bed has been upturned onto the 18th century building'. Comprised entirely of hand-woven silk, the textiles and padded sculptures take on recognisable forms such as mattresses and pillows, redirecting the granary from its original function in rural industry towards a more domestic narrative scenario.