Fawn Krieger

Fawn Krieger’s experiments in clay, ceramic, and cement are showcased in her solo show “State of Mind,” on view at Soloway. Fired clay slab—metaphors, signs, thoughts, or objectives in Krieger’s formulation—are pressed into ceramic troughs which contain wet and dry cement. The acts of sculpting, forcing, and squishing take place in the critical window of around twenty minutes before the cement sets, preserving the performance as an archive of resistance and displacement.

Krieger’s objects are under-glazed in Atomic-era colors, ranging from a radioactive hot pink to lotus-leaf green to pale butter yellows, retrieving the palette of another frenzied time of both hope and possible annihilation in collision with our contemporary time. Some works are placed directly on the floor, others atop plinths whose angles cut similarly to the loping angles of the objects they hold, and still others tucked into hollowed plinths which reveal themselves only at certain angles. These playful and friendly sculptures invite the body: Experiments in Resistance 111 (2021) [pictured], for instance, contains logs of pastel clay that seem almost confectionary.