MARIANNE NIELSEN: Leaf, stem, twig

Marianne Nielsen: Leaf, stem, twig is a catalogue published by Hostler Burrows on the occasion of the artist’s exhibition at HB381. 

About the Exhibition

Marianne Nielsen (Danish, b. 1971) sculpts delicate ceramic arrangements, which expose the synthetic and psychological aspects of the natural world. Through the lens of botany and a naturalist approach, she produces an herbarium of gestural forms that preserve the liveliness of plants. In reexamining the still life genre, her works evoke the ephemeral forms of overgrown spaces, crystalizing transient and fleeting moments. Nielsen’s subjects are found throughout nature as well as the decorative arts: in textile patterns, architectural elements, and the general abstracting of form across vernacular craft traditions. As a result, many of her works improvise on the basic format of vase, plate, or decorative dish. At other times, the artist isolates botanical scenarios and chance compositions from field and forest through the slow and detailed observation of her surroundings. Hers is an attention which aims not to simply comprehend the whole but to see each petal, stamen, burl, and stem for its rudimentary elements. Looking at Nielsen’s porcelain and stoneware sculptures, one finds an articulation of the vast taxonomy of natural forms nested within and alongside human culture.

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