See works in scagliola and alabaster by Lucian Moriyama in the ICAA's Cast Hall
The ICAA is proud to share the Cast Hall's 2024 exhibition, entitled Blue Pavilion: Authenticity, Fantasy, & Trickery, featuring works by Lucian Moriyama in scagliola and alabaster. Moriyama's work considers the place of plaster within an art historical canon fixated on authenticity. The classification of plaster as either documentary or fantasy is elusive, as it is inherently a medium that offers the viewer an echo of the work of art that it originates from, leaving them often questioning what differs between original sculpture and replication. We are prompted to consider if the most successful plaster works are the ones that offer the closest resemblance to its source material, or if the works should be viewed as their own works of art, divorced from their origin points. Ultimately, Moriyama’s work postulates that plaster has always had its own artistic niche that savors and delights in its role as a replicative material, with masters able to create artworks with their own visual attributes and merits. Presented in two sections, Blue Pavilion considers both the stunning and novel materiality of scagliola plaster as well as its omnipresent place in an art historical canon attempting to recreate the fantasy of an ancient past.
Nestled amongst the casts of the ICAA’s collection, Blue Pavilion highlights Moriyama’s sculptural pieces in conversation with the historic 19th century works on display in the Cast Hall. Surrounded by the casted artworks, Moriyama’s sculptures in scagliola celebrates the delightful trickery enabled by a replicative medium that cheekily attempts to appear as a material it is not. Through a series of vessels, relief panels, and everyday objects made of scagliola, Moriyama offers a continuity of the scagliola and plastering tradition, demonstrating the lasting vitality and interest in the materials and methods of historic plaster artistry. His work plumbs and revitalizes the fantasy of plaster, creating works that offer their own tantalizing tricks.
See the Summer 2024 Cast Hall Exhibition during the open house on July 20th, 2024, from 10am-3pm. The Open House is free and open to the public, no RSVP required.