Alex Anderson | Everything is made of light

February 24 – April 6, 2024

Sargent’s Daughters is pleased to present Everything is made of light, Alex Anderson’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, and his first in our West Coast location. This latest body of work moves Anderson’s virtuosic ceramic forms into novel and expansive directions.  Delving into the artist’s recent research on metaphysical concepts, the exhibition pushes the medium of ceramics into the realm of universal experience.

As one of the greatest technical ceramicists of his generation, Anderson continues to innovate formally, building increasingly complex structures and finishing them with avant-garde glazing techniques. This exhibition includes both free-standing sculptures and wall-mounted works that feature crystalline glazes and flowing, natural forms. They blur the borders and edges of the ceramic object, playing with open compositions and reflected light.

These innovative forms coincide with Anderson’s deepening investigation into spiritual practices and esoteric philosophy.  As the title of the exhibition indicates, Anderson’s recent research has centered around concepts of animacy and energy, including the work of 11th century mystic Hildegard von Bingen. The artist does not view this as a shift away from his past bodies of work, which have explored contemporary politics, racial identity, and consumption.  Rather, Everything is made of light is another phase in his interrogation of what it means to be alive in the present moment.  By focusing on the metaphysical underpinnings of daily life, Anderson’s work offers a novel vantage point on desire, suffering, pleasure, and materiality.

Alex Anderson (b. 1990, Seattle, WA)  lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Anderson uses the delicate medium of ceramics as his main vehicle to explore the sublime experiences that make up both the man-made and natural worlds, as well as deeper, more complicated issues of race and cultural representation. His artworks combine a novel dexterity in his medium with histories of art and design from around the globe, including the Baroque, Surrealism, Pattern and Decoration, and Japanese pop art.  Always irreverent, Anderson combines these references with idioms from African American vernacular and pop culture in order to probe the depths of reality, illusion and identity.

Anderson received his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Chinese from Swarthmore College and his Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Anderson previously studied at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in Jingdezhen, China and was awarded a Fulbright Grant in affiliation with the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he continued his studies in ceramic art. His work has been exhibited across the United States, including at the Orange County Museum of Art (Costa Mesa, CA), Museum of Arts and Design (New York, NY), The Long Beach Museum of Art (Long Beach, CA), the American Museum of Ceramic Art (Pomona, CA), Human Resources (Los Angeles, CA), The Hole (Los Angeles, CA), Venus Over Manhattan (New York, NY), Deli Gallery (New York, NY), Gavlak Gallery (Los Angeles, CA; Palm Beach, FL), and Jeffrey Deitch Gallery (Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY), as well as internationally, including at the Public Gallery (London, UK), Gallery COMMON (Tokyo, Japan), and Baik Art (Seoul, South Korea). 

Anderson’s work has been reviewed by Artsy, Artforum, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles, Cultured, The Los Angeles Times, amongst others. He is represented by Sargent’s Daughters. His solo exhibition, “Everything is made of light,” will be on view at Sargent’s Daughters Los Angeles from February 24 through April 6, 2024.