~CODY HOYT . . STUDIO AT A GLANCE
GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN, N.Y.
SAT OCT 25, 2014
the fun thing is, when you turn the corner to access BRIAN WILLMONT’S own studio, from the public exhibition space of his GREENPOINT TERMINAL GALLERY, you get to see the workplace of artist / master ceramist . . CODY HOYT.
this being the season of ‘CLAY’, ‘SATAN CERAMICS’ downtown , and uptown ‘FIRE’ – and all . . I wondered why I hadn’t made note of his work, although I had seen it, and even very recently at the big CINDERS tenth anniversary group show this past summer.
I think the oversight was based on . . 2 factors.
1. esp in the CINDERS showing, Cody’s work had to compete with so much other really strong pictorial visual art, and the pieces they showed by him were not large enough in scale, or well-lit enough, or whatever . . to compete.
2. Cody’s work requires more of a ‘setting’ to stand out in all it’s functional, playful weirdness and . . beauty. nobody should ever display his work, standing alone – on a cold empty shelf.
his work also needs . . plants, gorgeous living plants, and flowers. as in: greenery !!
to come alive. these pots need settings. lights. camera, action.
contrast, life, and – drama.
ok. well, they look pretty good ‘stand-alone’ on his website, but then they are just competing within their own context, and in some sense are re-inforced by that.
his sculptural shapes need an array, to make the whole and the individual . . come alive in all their wild inventive diversity, and well . . even: music.
of form.
and rhythm . . of design.
as I saw here, where there’s variety, ironically there’s also a chance to note the great restrained order of things. in these clay pieces. function, balance, order, raw-like surface finish, inner volume, outer volume, gesture. presence. etc, etc.
SO,
from now on CODY HOYT here’s some advice . .
don’t let anyone ever again, just pop a couple of your hand-wrought geometric vessels on a shelf. instead, build a setting for them, like you have in your studio, and let them stand tall, and be graced in all their gorgeous minimalist primitive clay being . . by the very contents for which they were designed and made to hold: and that is: g-r-e-e-n-e-r-y.
greenery and hand-built clay, a full-blown life force.
now, that’s what I call . . a win win.
definite, see more: CODY HOYT
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH