Some Art I Liked: Five Minutes on Steen Ipsen
Steen Ipsen: Ellipse 17, 2022
(Above: Ellipse 17, 2022, Steen Ipsen, glazed earthenware, 21x13x13 in) Click to enlarge.
TL;DR:
Artist Status: Steen is a Danish sculptor with some international recognition.
Price: His ceramic pieces range from about $4,000-$10,000.
Where else can I see his work? He was most recently in Duran Mashaal Gallery’s (Montreal) group show in the ZONAMACO Art Fair (Mexico City).
Steen was born in 1966 in Næstved, Denmark. He studied at The Royal Danish Academy School of Design (1990), where he subsequently led the school’s Ceramics Department (1996-2004). He currently lives and works in Copenhagen.
His Style
Steen’s pieces have an elegant, natural look that underplay the amount of technical work involved. The piece above is a part of his Tied Up series, where colorful solids are joined together and tied with PVC or leather strips. He begins by molding the clay into custom plaster molds, then merges the pieces into the intended shape. Multiple cycles of sanding, polishing, glazing and firing then follows, leading to an elegant sheen to the final product.
The artist has pointed to nature as an inspiration for his pieces. Looking at his work, one may connect it to images of crystallization, cellular fission, or molecular diagrams. The leather straps add dimension and tension to the sculpture, as if it’s being held back from further motion. Some people also see sexual undertones with the rope straps…after all, art is all entirely in the eye of the beholder.
(Above: Organic Movement 2, 2022, Steen Ipsen, glazed earthenware, 16 x 12 x 10 in) Click to enlarge.
In the piece above Steen creates this dynamic shape that looks alive, like an ivory amoeba in motion. The drawn lines add a fun dimension to how one can view the piece: it could be read as a topographic map folks use for camping trips, or the contour lines in an aviation map. The monochrome palette leaves the viewer with a lot of interpretive latitude.
Contemporary Context
Steen’s sculptures flexibly straddle multiple art movements. The bright colors fit in with the work of Pop Art artists, while the abstract forms seem to reference elements of 20th century modernist art. The fact that these works look as though they were made in the 1960s or in the 2020s also meshes with the principles and timelessness of Scandinavian design.
(Above: Tied Up 12, 2012, Steen Ipsen, glazed earthenware, 17 x 11 x 10 in) Click to enlarge
Impact
Steen has participated in major exhibitions in France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the US. His work has been acquired by major museums worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Museum of Art and Design in Hamburg, Germany.
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