Carl Solway Gallery presents Innovation and Passion: Kirk Mangus and Eva Kwong as part of the 2023 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Conference. This ceramic exhibition will highlight two distinctive practices through an exploration of the artists’ idiosyncratic yet complementary styles.

Throughout the four decades Kirk and Eva spent together, they maintained autonomous art practices and identities. By nature, they contrasted each other not just in temperament, but in their processes and aesthetics as well. Kwong’s ceramics are contemplative and elegant, while Mangus’ dynamic and rough-hewn. However, they share an affinity for the bold, the vivid, and the corporeal.

Eva Kwong’s sculptures refer to the dualities of east/west that mirror her bi-cultural upbringing, and the tension between male/female, open/closed, empty/full, and dark/light. Her repertoire of color and form is derived from the stained images of electron microscope slides, observations of organic lifeforms and her own bodily experiences. Her compelling ceramics, both large and small, interconnect as installations that express an awareness of the sensations and energy in our living bodies.

Kirk Mangus’ vessels and sculptures emphasize the mark of his hand: the squishing, pulling, and carving create the potent energy of his work. He drew from a variety of influences: from comics to cave paintings, Greek and Roman history, modernist abstraction to West Coast 1970s Funk, Goya, German Expressionists, Chinese ink paintings, and Japanese woodblock prints. Most evident was his affection for traditions as varied as American folk pottery, Mayan reliefs, African wood carvings, and Asian vessels. His work is internationally known for its vibrant figurative imagery, evocative humor, exuberant storytelling, and experimental glazing techniques.