CHRIS GUSTIN: ASCENSION

A solo exhibition by renowned ceramic artist Chris Gustin, opening May 7 and running through June 5, 2025 at Donzella Project Space. This exhibition will feature Gustin’s newest body of work, the Spirit Series, alongside selected vessels and Cloud Series pieces created over the past two decades. With Ascension, Gustin invites viewers into a dynamic exploration of form, movement, emotions, and the forces of nature. The Spirit Series, which serves as the centerpiece of this exhibition, embodies the artist’s ongoing pursuit of transformative and transcendent energy. Through monumental ceramic sculptures (some up to 5 feet tall), sensually curved, abstract amorphous forms, Gustin channels elemental forces— earth, fire, air—into pieces that reflect both the tangible and the metaphysical. With the Spirit Series sweeping, dynamic works embody “pure form” to express the emotional essence of life experiences. There is something inherently human about these anthropomorphic shapes and while their striking colors and glazes captivate, it’s the scale and shape of the forms that demand attention. Gustin’s sculptures invite viewers to experience a sense of elevation, motion, and transformation – they enchant, provoke, flirt, argue, and even menace, each one telling its own unique story. His previous body of work, the Cloud Series, captured the ethereal beauty of clouds through delicate, powerful forms, and opened the door to abstraction for Gustin.