Transcript Jim Leedy

Jim Leedy
Abstract Ceramic Master
• Jim Leedy is an international artist in terms of his interests and
achievements. He is an artist who crosses boundaries between
materials and genres, representation and abstraction, art and music,
creativity and scholarship. His diverse and unique talents have led
him to a lifetime of accomplishment in clay, painting, public art,
works-on-paper, prints, assemblages, installations, and
performance.
Eyewitness to the birth of the New York School, Leedy's paintings
emerge from Abstract Expressionism, with a sense of materiality,
surface structure and veiled figuration. With graduate study of Asian
art History at Colombia University, he created a hybrid of Abstract
Expressionism and Oriental pottery which is central to his oeuvre in
clay. Chinese tripod bronzes and Japanese folk pottery were
reinterpreted with an informal American twist that established him as
an early leader in the American Clay Revolution.
• Never satisfied with the status quo, his career has been a lifetime of
exploration and chance-taking that has occasionally placed him on
the outside of major art movements, while often anticipating them.
He continues to break ground in processes, materials, and subject
matter that is unique to his times and personal life.
• Adapted from Jim Leedy: Artist Across Boundaries, by Matthew
Kangas, University of Washington Press, 2000.
•
After having been drafted to serve as a military photographer during the Korean War, Leedy
found his “spiritual home” in Asian philosophy while witnessing the atrocities of war. This
experience left a great impact on Leedy. Studying art and art history on the G.I. Bill after the
war enabled him to meet some influential artists in New York. Wilhelm de Kooning, Jackson
Pollock, and Philip Guston were among the group that impacted Leedy. These painters were
known for painting in a style coined “Abstract Expressionism”. Leedy discovered that there
were similarities to Asian thought in this form of art and thus were the beginnings of Leedy’s
quest for spontaneity and discovery.
• “The teacher’s attitude was that if it had a finger mark, or a drop of
glaze, you wiped that away, or you ground it off. And I realized with this
Zen/Taoist philosophy that it was this aspect that made it unique and
different than all the others.” – Jim Leedy
"Plate", 2001
Ceramic Stoneware
23"h x 21.5"w x 4"d
New World, 2004
42.5 x 64.5 in.
• "Stilted
Vessel",
1993
Anagamafired Ceramic
46 1/2"h x 21
1/2"w x 16"d
• "Untitled
", Circa
1972
Ceramic,
Platter
2'h x
19.5"w x
2"d
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Artist: Jim Leedy
Title: Slab Vessel
Date: 1953
Medium: Hand-built
ceramic with resin glaze
• Dimensions:18 x 8 3/4 x
7 in.
• Bleeding Plate 2003
Double-fired stoneware (anagama
the low-fired)
28" x 28" x 6"
• Zues 1995
Anagama-fired
stoneware
40.5" x 18" x 16"
• Cup and
Saucer,
mid to
late '90's
14 x 20 x
20 in.
Stonewar
e
$5500
Salt-fired
• Large
Platter,
late
1990's
4 x 22 x
22 in.
Stonewa
re
$20000
Salt-fired
• Large Platter, late 1990's
4 x 22 x 22 in.
Stoneware
$20000
Salt-fired
JIM LEEDY, AMERICAN
DIVIDE, 1992, mixed
media on paper, signed
lower right, framed.
48 x 42 inches.
• Abstract
Expressionis
t Shang I,
1953.
Low-fired
stoneware
with resin
glaze, 16 x 9
diam
• Stilted
Abstract
Expressioni
st Plate,
1953. Pitfired
earthenware,
13 x 12 x 4.
• Cup and
Saucer,
1953. Clay
and
bentware.
• Slab Vessel,
1953. Handbuilt ceramic
with resin
glaze, 18 x
8.5 diam.
• Christ, 1954.
Oil on
canvas, 48 x
38.
• Untitled,
1958. Oil
on
canvas,
51 x 48.
• Rising, 1959. Oil on canvas diptych, 68 x 96.
• The Buck Stops
Here, 19621964.
Four-part glazed
stoneware, 88 x
22 x 18.
• Trophy (reverse
view), 1965.
Handbuilt
stoneware,
applied glazes
and stains, with
commercial
string, 27 x 17 x
9.
• House
Pot, 1965.
• Behind
the Sun,
1969.
Oil on
canvas
with clay
addition
s, 48 x
51
• Thomas Hart
Benton Bank,
1972.
Painted
earthenware, 25
x 12 x 12.
• Celebration
Cup, 1974.
Salt-fired
stoneware, 24
x 14 x 14.
• Icarus, 1979.
Rip-stop nylon
cloth, 100yd. x
45yd.
View near
Flagstaff, Arizona.
Continental Expansion, 1980.
Oil and acrylic with paper on canvas, 30 3/4 x 40.
• Red-faced
Pete, 1983.
Stoneware.
• Plaque
with Red
Spots,
1983.
Salt-fired
stonewar
e, 20 x 26
x 3.
• Himeji City
Mural (detail),
1988. Unfired
Stoneware.
Muncipal
government,
Himeji City,
Japan.
• Untitled,
1989.
• Stilted
Vessel, 1993.
Wood-fired
ceramics.
•
Expanding
Forces, 1993.
Acyrlic on paper
mounted on
wood,
37 x 44 1/4.
• Lakeside
Stilted
Vessel, 1995.
Ceramic
stoneware
with porcelain
inserts, 46 1/2
x 21 x 16.
• Expansion,
1995. Acrylic
and oil on
canvas, 54 x 48.
• Root
Plate,
1997.
Anagamafired
stoneware,
27 1/2
diam. x 5
3/4 depth.
• Untitled
Plate,
1998.
Saltfired
stonewa
re,
21 1/2 x
24 1/2 x
4 3/4.
• Cup
and
Saucer
, 1999.
Saltfired
stonew
are, 13
x 20 x
20.