Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is delighted to announce an upcoming solo exhibition of Monica Banks’ newest ceramic work. Titled “All You Can Eat ”, this is Banks’ first show with the gallery. 

“All You Can Eat ” combines new ceramic vessels and utensils with earlier cakes and other surprising elements made over the years — such as porcelain portraits of dead birds, houses, and pig hands.  One of Banks’ early series stemmed after the Haiti earthquakes. She conceptualized the mass loss through a collection of one-inch porcelain human figures – representing the victims of this tragedy and other natural disasters. This series was the beginning of her use of porcelain, the main medium in her practice today. “My new porcelain work— mugs, plates, forks, coffee pots, etc. explores the unspoken things we think about ourselves and each other during the everyday acts of eating and drinking.” 

“This series started when I began giving voice to self-defeating slogans by adding them to pretty mugs that could not successfully hold liquids (e.g., “you ruin everything,” “no one cares,” “why are you so…”). This twist on the concept of inspirational mugs and travel souvenirs inspired me to incorporate petals, tattoos, slugs, eyes, teeth, stitched flesh, and other unlikely motifs into the tableware,” she says. 

By topping her edible subjects with ceramic insects, pests, and feathers, she evokes conversations about the duality of the world we live in. The eclectic mix vacillates between the pleasant and unpleasant. “The resulting tablescape aims to evoke the full spectrum of feelings —from celebration to despair, self-mockery to confrontation,” she says.