Marina Darcy Weiner

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

Artist statement

My practice pushes the sculptural possibilities of ceramics while alluding to its history as a functional medium. Tools and machines of all kinds are an enduring source of inspiration. Notches, hooks, combs, and ladders are recurring motifs in my work, continually warped and remixed into seemingly precarious wall-hanging sculptures and installations. While working, I often wonder how brittle or spindly I can make something before it will break, or where I can join two coils to invite the most surprise and curiosity from the viewer. Composed of intersecting coils of clay, many of my sculptures resemble line drawings that have leapt off the page. In addition to handheld tools and devices, I find inspiration in the “accidental sculptures” of urban life: haphazard construction barriers, irregular sidewalk cracks, electrical boxes with layers of accreted paint. At turns humorous, melancholic, and pathetic, these objects suggest exclusion and neglect. They are visible points of friction: moments where the forces of governance, bureaucracy, human need, and nonhuman life all intersect. I view clay first and foremost as a sculptural material. Contrary to ceramics tradition, I don't make much that is "useful", nor do I pursue predictability and uniformity. Instead, my work employs the language of utility - hooks, notches, teeth, handles - coaxed and stretched into abstract sculptures that suggest labor and public space. I eschew heavy glaze treatment in favor of matte underglazes,...

Artwork