Breaking Tradition: Contemporary Approaches to the Decorative Arts

“Breaking Tradition: Contemporary Approaches to the Decorative Arts” features three artists—Sophie Glenn, Steven Young Lee, and Beth Lipman—who challenge the dominant cultural narratives of the decorative arts through unconventional furniture, porcelain, photography, and cast-metal pieces.

Historically, the decorative arts prize a strict hierarchy of material and technique set forth by a select group of arts professionals and collectors. Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Curator Kathryn Hall says the artists in this exhibition disrupt assumptions about the genre’s history, by making it relatable to a broader audience: “By recontextualizing traditional archetypes, patterns, and decorative motifs in a modern world, these three artists look critically at how they identify with these cultural artifacts.”

Image:

Beth Lipman, “Distill #14,” 2015. Cast iron, chrome with rust patina. 12 x 8 x 2 inches. Photo by Kohler Co./ JMKAC.