Spending Time
Solo Show by Nike Schröder
Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles
November 4 – December 23, 2023
Video by L.A. Art Documents / www.laartdocuments.com
Text Source: waltermacielgallery.com
Walter Maciel Gallery is pleased to present a ten-year survey exhibition entitled Spending Time by Nike Schröder marking her fifth solo show with the gallery. Schröder is a multi-disciplinary artist who is originally from Hamburg, Germany and is now based in Pasadena.
Continuing with themes of femininity, female identity and primal aesthetics, Schröder creates a body of work made of traditional women’s crafts such as sewing, weaving and ceramics. The abstract forms evoke sensuality while hinting to the curves and forms of the female body with the occasional depiction of a breast. Schröder combines ceramic forms that are left partially unglazed to reveal their imperfections with ephemeral objects such as basket weaving and sewing of skin-like materials that include leather and latex. The stacked sculptures challenge gravity with heavier forms made of clay placed on lighter objects made of foam, fabric and basket reed and are shown both free-standing on pedestals and hanging from the ceiling. In many of the ceramic works, sections of the amorphic shapes spill over the edge of the pedestal giving the forms a live organic feel relatable to the human body. Although abstract in their presentation, the works evoke a strong sense of nurturing and the seductive qualities of the female body and are thoughtfully composed to exist in search of balance.
The new sculptures are presented in conjunction with works from previous series made over the last decade and were included in her previous shows at our gallery. Some of the new organic vessels include a stream of threads pouring from their openings taking a lead from her well-loved thread paintings from the Fragments and Convex/Concave series also included in the show. Other abstract paintings made of paint, folded fabric and mixed media materials from her Cityfolds and BACKSPACE/DELETE are presented with geometric shapes in conversation with the organic sculptures. Works from Schröder’s last exhibition, TAKE AWAY are included with handmade porcelain nipples in various shades of fleshy colors that are sewn on to multi-sided soft sculptures made of canvas and foam stuffing and in grid patterns on to linen stretched over custom panels. In comparison to the abstractions, figurative works from the inzwischen series are included depicting male subjects in homo-erotic scenes, such as the diptych panels with a large image of two men kissing painted over a grid of smaller versions stitched to the canvas. An important addition to the exhibition is the diptych done in 2015 from this same series quoting the universal rules with the text stitched on to raw linen. The right panel repeating the Golden Rule - “We must treat others as we wish others to treat us.” with gold thread pooling to the floor and the left panel repeating the Silver Rule – “We should not do to others what we wouldn’t want them to do to us.” with silver thread gathering on the floor, perhaps a reminder that among all of the beauty there is tragedy with the current wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
In 2009, Schröder earned her BA in Art Therapy/Fine Arts at the University of Applied Sciences in Ottersberg and had a studio practice in Berlin before moving to Los Angeles in 2012. She has had solo exhibitions of her work in Germany including the show so long! at Gudberg Nerger Gallery in Hamburg. Schröder’s work has been included in group exhibitions at LA Quotidian in downtown Los Angeles, Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York, Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park in Los Angeles and Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, CA, where she will have a solo show in 2024. She has been commissioned to produce works for numerous public and private collections, such as the Rockwell Group, Norwegian Cruiselines, Leann Ford Interiors, Emily Henderson Design and the Eglash Collection. She has been published in the NY Times magazine, Architectural Digest, Domino Magazine, Luxe Magazine and Spiegel among others. Book Publications include The Craft Companion/Thames and Hudson Publications, Styled by Emily Henderson and Alchemy/Ginko Press.