Ceramic artists (Vavrek and the Winokurs) at Rosenfeld Gallery

Three master artists exhibiting their new work together in one gallery is such a special confluence that I had to return twice to the Rosenfeld Gallery to savor every piece in the show.

Ken Vavrek, Paula Winokur and Robert Winokur together illustrate the wide diversity of ceramics as an artist's medium. Each of these artists begins with clay but ends with vastly different modes of expression. We've seen each of them in separate museum exhibitions; now that they're together, we can enjoy the dialogue.

Paula Winokur's porcelain sculptures, which she has created since 1970, seem to be born from the spirit. They're white fragments of nature, marked by the elements and arranged as if they are artifacts from some immemorial time. Each of her porcelain sculptures almost explodes with an innate energy. Nothing is static; everything is in the process of becoming. Shattered Ice (2009), contains more than 40 separate forms arranged as remnants of separate growth cycles.

This same vitality and energy is reflected in her monoprints, which capture elements of nature in flux. The very surface of the earth seems to be in a cyclical movement towards a vortex. The dark depths of the monoprints contrast with the light reflected from her white sculpture.

Stoneware wall sculptures

Ken Vavrek's glazed stoneware wall sculptures are beautifully balanced with subtle tonal transitions that lighten the forms, creating a visual harmony. SUM (2008) is in three parts, with each end piece containing anthropomorphic elements that could be in the process of evolving. The middle part stabilizes the vertical thrusts, a necessary negative space linking two positive forces. Emblem is conceived with a lyrical pattern of strongly contrasting glazes.

Vavrek's new wall platters take a banal form and utilize it as a painter does with a canvas. The abstract color patterns, many of them hard-edged, create a strong composition heightened by the shadows and reflected light of the platter's surface. Although they're not as technically exciting as his wall sculptures, I found myself looking at them again and again for sheer visual pleasure.

House supported by asparagus

Robert Winokur's ceramic sculptures kept the show rooted to its time and place. Perhaps the house, barn and ladder shapes reassure us; but look again. What kind of a house could it be if it's held up by asparagus?

Salt glazes reflect the light from each building, including Wyeth's House and Barn. He investigates the mystique of the house as a form and an icon by isolating one behind a metal cage, The Shrine of the Confined House, and he comments slyly on the status of sculpture in Prodigy on Display.

Almost overlooked— and perhaps better left so— are Robert Winokur's small-scale figurative sculptures. They might have been created for his own amusement, but they contribute little to the exhibition's overall quality. One building and/or one asparagus suffice to capture the essence of this artist's voice. We don't need this much diversity.

This exhibition is all the proof we need that artists can create art with clay, string or any other material they select. It's not the medium but the maker who sets the pace. The ceramics world is filled with great artists, and these three rank among the best.