Ms. Ericka Lopez at Tierra Del Sol Gallery helps us imagine pottery which is beyond the idea of rigid, and instead imposes upon us plasticity to her forms with her Continuous Touch opening. The ability for the ceramic to be make so elastically configured, while still retaining use from its emptiness, gives the subject an idea of tasteful novelty.

Untitled 115 (Apricot Coil), 2022
ceramic
14.5 x 14 x 15”. By Ericka Lopez. Courtesy of the artist and Tierra Del Sol Gallery.

Novelty of? New forms to install objects within. Or is that necessary? Can not these rinds which glisten – unbeknownst to the sculpture who herself is blind – be artful in and of themselves? Do they need to rely upon flowers to be fully realized? Are they not strident enough with their substantially large bases, typically greater than 8”? Can they, in other words, not find a happy place on their own, on a buffet, coffee, or even dining room table?

Does this not typify beauty? That it is resilient on its own accord?

Untitled 135 (Dusty Blue Coil), 2023
ceramic
7 x 12.5 x 12”. By Ericka Lopez. Courtesy of the artist and Tierra Del Sol Gallery.

Untitled 118 (White Coil), 2022
ceramic
9.6 x 7 x 8.5”. Ericka Lopez. Courtesy of the artist and Tierra Del Sol Gallery.

Her generally speaking earthly tones – without a taste of spastic colored-brightness – brings a homeliness, a modesty, to what is otherwise a comfortable irregularity to an object which has historically been home to storing rice, oil, and riches. To be brave to let the art be on its own – without any other accoutrements – is the real challenge that faces the artist. Does she succeed?

Untitled 132 (Red Coil), 2023
ceramic
6.5″ x 15″ x 14″.
By Ericka Lopez. Courtesy of the artist and Tierra Del Sol Gallery.

While I would like more ardor in her ambitions, such as with Untitled 132 (Red Coil) with its confident fluidity, her arsenal is high-caliber enough to be comfortably, though still adventurously, left on a table, to bring originality to a room. Her ceramics possess a staunchness which provides a strong counterpoint next to a coffee table book, or even on a bookshelf, to add that necessary drama to a space that is sorely in need of leaving sordid solitude of byzantine artifacts. The new millennium has called, and with it a relaxation in treating vessels as utilities and instead as pure novelties of finesse.

For more information, please contact the gallery:

Tierra Del Sol Gallery

945 Chung King Road (Chinatown)
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Email: gallery@tierradelsol.org
Gallery: 213-625-0935