ALL YOU CAN EAT MONICA BANKS
ALL YOU CAN EAT MONICA BANKS
ON VIEW MAY 12 THROUGH JUNE 18, 2022
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is delighted to announce an exhibition of Monica Banks’ newest ceramic work.Titled, “All You Can Eat”, this is Banks’ first show with the gallery. "All You Can Eat" is an installation of over 60 works in porcelain by Monica Banks. Banks has recently been obsessed with making porcelain objects of daily use – cakes and teapots, mugs and houses – none of which are actually usable and all in a mix of scale. Some of the pieces are tiny – some oversized. And while these objects are all beautifully crafted with colorful glazes, each one contains an ominous element that undercuts the beauty. The lovely pastel cake contains safety pins in the frosting and a homey mug is spikey and harmful. Banks then combines these everyday objects in tabletop displays with objects that are much more dangerous such as pig hands and dead birds. These weird table settings evoke the pleasure of our daily meal and at the same time, celebrate the dark undercurrent - mostly unacknowledged and unspoken– that often accompanies our everyday activities. The resulting mix is invigorating and oddly funny.
As Banks explains, “this series began with adding my self-defeating slogans (e.g., "you ruin everything", "no one cares", "why are you so...") to pretty mugs that could not successfully hold liquids. This twist on inspirational mugs and souvenirs inspired me to incorporate flower petals, tattoos, slugs, eyes, teeth, stitched flesh, and other incongruous motifs into the tableware. Banks has exhibited at White Box, Spring Break Art Fair, The Heckscher Museum of Art, The Carriage House at the Islip Art Museum, The Parrish Art Museum, The New Britain Museum of American Art, The Center for Architecture in New York City, and other venues. She created "Faces: Times Square,” a block-long sculpture which stood in Times Square from 1996-2009, for which she won an award from The Public Design Commission of the City of New York. Her permanent public works are located in the Bronx, Binghamton NY, and Charlotte NC. She has been exhibiting sculpture and doing site-specific installations since 1989.
"You Ruin Everything / It is Your Fault," 2021 glazed english porcelain 5 5/8" x 9 3/4" x 7 1/8"
"Psalm," 2015 glazed english porcelain 5" x 8 1/4" x 8 1/8"
"Witnessing (Small Bumpy Black)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 2 1/2" x 4" x 3"
"Evidence," 2021 glazed english porcelain 6 3/4" x 7 3/4" x 6 1/4"
"Feathered," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3 3/8" x 6" x 5 7/8"
"Beholding," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3" x 5 1/8" x 4 1/2"
"You Ruin Everything (Curling)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3 5/8" x 5 1/4" x 4 1/4"
"Stitched (Stitches, Pins, Tattoos)," 2022 glazed english porcelain 3 3/4" x 7 1/2" x 6"
"Windows," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4" x 5 1/2" x 3 7/8"
"Stars," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4" x 4 3/4" x 3 1/8"
"LSR / If Only," 2021 glazed english porcelain 7 3/8" x 8 3/4" x 7"
"Climbing," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4" x 4 1/4" x 3 3/8"
"No One Cares / It Doesn't Matter," 2021 glazed english porcelain 7 3/8" x 6 1/4" x 5 1/4"
"Showing (Pastel Bird's Eye)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 5" x 4 1/4" x 4"
"Why Are You So," 2021 glazed english porcelain 6 7/8" x 6 1/4" x 6 1/4"
"Choker," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3 3/4" x 4 1/2" x 3 3/4"
"Flowering," 2021 glazed english porcelain, india ink 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" x 3 1/2"
"Sprouting (Light Blue)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 6" x 5 3/16" x 4 3/4"
"Patched," 2021 glazed english porcelain 5" x 5 1/4" x 3 1/2"
"Brightening," 2021 glazed english porcelain 5" x 4 3/4" x 3 1/4"
"French Press," 2022 glazed english porcelain 12" x 10" x 6"
"Goethe (Nothing is Worth More Than This Day)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4 3/4" x 6" x 4"
"Karma (The Other Person is You)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4 1/4" x 6" x 4 1/4"
"Talking," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4 1/4" x 9" x 7"
"Torn," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3" x 5" x 3 3/4"
"Reaching," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4" x 4 1/2" x 7 1/2"
"Dalmatian," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3 3/4" x 5 1/2" x 5"
"Listening (Double Handled)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4 1/2" x 6 3/4" x 3 3/4"
"Petals (Pink)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4" x 6 3/8" x 5"
"Pursing (Pink)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4 1/2" x 4" x 4 7/8"
"Preening (Yellow Birds Eye)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 6 1/4" x 5" x 4 7/8"
"Flask (with gray)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4 1/4" x 4" x 3 7/8"
"Bulging (with purple)," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4 7/8" x 4 7/8" x 3 3/4"
"Blue," 2021 glazed english porcelain 4" x 4 1/4" x 3"
"Fur Lined," 2021 glazed english porcelain 5" x 6" x 4 1/2"
"Rising," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3" x 5 1/8" x 4 1/8"
"Poison," 2021 glazed english porcelain, india ink 2 7/8" x 5" x 4 3/4"
"Pink," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3" x 4 3/4" x 4"
"Green," 2021 glazed english porcelain 2 3/8" x 5 3/8" x 4 7/8"
"Protruding," 2021 glazed english porcelain 3 1/2" x 6 3/4" x 6"
"Captivated," 2019 glazed english porcelain 4 1/2" x 9 3/4" x 9 1/2"
"Salmagundi," 2018 glazed english porcelain 6 1/4" x 8 3/8" x 8 3/8"
"Women's March," 2017 glazed english porcelain 9" x 6" x 6"
"Anthem," 2015 glazed english porcelain 6 1/2" x 7 1/2" x 7 1/4"
"Dotted Cake," 2016 glazed english porcelain 5 1/2" x 7" x 7 1/8"
"Tall Cake with Cairns," 2016 glazed english porcelain 15" x 8 3/4" x 8 3/4"
"Attracted," 2021 glazed english porcelain size variable
"Amassed," 2021 glazed english porcelain size variable
"Pig Hand," 2021 glazed english porcelain 2 1/4" x 7 1/2" x 2 7/8"
"Bird," 2018 glazed english porcelain 1 3/4" x 7" x 3 1/2"
"Vignette 1," 2021 glazed english porcelain size variable
"Vignette 4," 2021 glazed english porcelain size variable
"Vignette 5," 2021 glazed english porcelain size variable
"Vignette 6," 2021 glazed english porcelain size variable
"Cloud," 2022 wire, found objects, english porcelain, india ink 30" x 48" x 28"
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