ROGER HERMAN: FROM CALIFORNIA WITH LOVE
Installation View: Roger Herman From California With Love 54 Rue de la Verrerie, 75004 Paris, France 26 September – 20 December 2024 | Photography courtesy Carpenters Workshop Gallery Paris
Carpenters Workshop Gallery Paris presents From California With Love, a display of ceramic works and large-scale abstract canvases by Los Angeles based artist Roger Herman (b. 1947), a multifaceted figure who has left a distinctive mark on contemporary notions of art, craft and design. Continuing from a solo exhibition presented in London in February 2024, the Paris exhibition explores how Herman seamlessly intertwines ceramics and painting to unveil an assemblage of colour, texture, material, processes and form.
Herman is known for his polyphonous orchestrations that embrace imperfection and incompleteness, in a practice that has evolved over five decades. Featuring recent works produced from 2015 onwards, the exhibition celebrates the gestural, spontaneous vibrancy of Herman’s colourful creations, illustrating why he came to be known as the West Coast parallel of 1980s neo-Expressionism.
Roger Herman, Untitled 156, photography by Benjamin Baccarani, courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery.jpg
At the core of the exhibition is a series of dynamic handcrafted ceramic pieces sculpted from wheel-thrown clay, which exude energy and highlight the artist’s experimental approach. These include vases like Untitled 154 (2023) and Untitled 160 (2023), bowls like Untitled 97 (2019) and plates like Untitled 131 (2022). Adorned with vivid colours and varying textures, the works reflect Herman’s fascination with the transformative power of colour during the glazing process – a theme that he has passionately explored since the late 1990s.
More than functional vases, the irregular shapes, spontaneous voids and protrusions of these pieces transcend traditional ceramic design techniques, with vibrant, quickly executed expressionistic compositions applied beneath glossy glazes. Evoking a unique and unpredictable painterly expression that celebrates imperfection, spontaneity and intuition, each piece is marked by an approach that treats the clay as a blank canvas, allowing brush strokes, dashes and lines to build texture and colour in innovative ways.
Roger Herman, Untitled 154, photography by Benajmin Baccarani, courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery.jpg
Complementing the ceramics is a series of large-scale paintings that echo the same expressive, experimental energy, testifying to the artist’s instinctual relationship to colour and composition across different mediums. They include Pink Sky, Green Window (2023) and Untitled – Yellow, Green, Red (2023), which feature abstract, evocative and boldly colourful painterly gestures. These paintings share a cohesive space with the ceramics in the gallery, illustrating how Herman’s instinctive artistic methods developed through his experimental work with clay, kilns and glazes.
Roger Herman, Untitled 133, photography by Nicky Roding, courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery (2) (1).jpg
Born in Germany and relocating to the US in 1977, Herman quickly became immersed in California’s vibrant art scene, which greatly influenced his subsequent work. With works ranging from figurative to abstract, Herman’s journey reflects a commitment to pushing the boundaries of traditional mediums, evident in the unpredictable and experimental nature of his works. His focus on colour and glazing processes, as well as his dedication to embracing imperfections, resonates with broader movements in contemporary art that challenge conventional norms. As a teacher at UCLA, Herman has been a prominent figure in the artistic community, with his work featured in galleries worldwide and held in prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Roger Herman, Untitled 86, photography by Benjamin Baccarani, courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery (1).jpg
“Roger Herman’s bold and painterly vision is vividly alive across his ceramics and paintings, which are intricately interwoven with each other, illustrating a dexterity with colour and form that proves him as a pioneer of art and craft. His intuitive, expressive and uniquely characterful work illustrates how visionary approaches to materials, colour, texture and form can transform our understanding of craftsmanship and artistic creation.”
Roger Herman, Untitled 164, photogrpahy by Benjamin Baccarani, courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery.jpg
ABOUT ROGER HERMAN
Roger Herman is an artist based in Los Angeles, renowned for his innovative work in ceramics, painting and various other mediums. Born to a French father and a German mother, Herman initially studied law before transitioning to the arts, eventually studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe.
Herman’s artistic journey took a significant turn after he received a DAAD grant from Germany, leading to his relocation to California in 1977. At the age of 30, Herman immersed himself in the vibrant California art scene, which greatly influenced his subsequent work.
He has since become well-known for his polyphonous orchestrations of color and form, embracing imperfection and incompleteness in his creations. Herman’s ceramic vessels illustrate his appreciation for these qualities. Beginning with wheel-thrown clay forms that are often irregular and feature spontaneous voids or protrusions, he applies vibrant, quickly executed expressionistic compositions beneath glossy glazes. This process results in pieces that exude energy, highlighting his ceaseless experimentation with colour, texture, material, process and form.
This new destination, dedicated to presenting ambitious programming across all forms of creative expression, confirms the leadership role of Carpenters Workshop Gallery in today’s international territory of art and design and their intersectionality. to manga, ukiyo-e, erotica, memento mori, surrealism and parietal art, Herman’s ceramics are dynamic and multifaceted. He also draws inspiration from Lucio Fontana’s psychedelic maximalism and the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, which values irregularity, roughness, and transformation.
Herman’s work extends beyond ceramics to include paintings on canvas, drawings, books, and woodcut prints. His instinctual relationship to colour and composition is evident across all these mediums.
Herman’s impact on the art world is also marked by his long teaching career at UCLA, where he led the Painting and Drawing department for many years. From 1998 to 2008, he co-ran the Black Dragon Society gallery in Chinatown, which played a crucial role in launching the careers of numerous young artists. He has also received two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a DAAD grant. His recent solo exhibitions include shows at Nino Mier Gallery in Los Angeles, Louis Lefebvre Galerie in Paris, Sorry We’re Closed in Brussels, Carpenters Workshop Gallery in New York and London, and Jack Hanley Gallery in New York. Influenced by a range of imagery and gestures, from painterly abstraction Herman’s impact on the art world is also marked by his long teaching career at UCLA, where he led the Painting and Drawing department for many years. From 1998 to 2008, he co-ran the Black Dragon Society gallery in Chinatown, which played a crucial role in launching the careers of numerous young artists. He has also received two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and a DAAD grant. His recent solo exhibitions include shows at Nino Mier Gallery in Los Angeles, Louis Lefebvre Galerie in Paris,.
ABOUT CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY
Specialising in Functional Art and Collectible Design, Carpenters Workshop Gallery focuses on producing and exhibiting the work of international artists, designers, and architects, who look to push the boundaries of what is traditionally presented within the confines of the gallery and art fair space. Carpenters Workshop Gallery is founded on the partnership of childhood friends, Julien Lombrail and Loic Le Gaillard, who first opened the gallery in a former carpenter’s workshop in London’s Mayfair. Since then, Carpenters Workshop Gallery has proven its deserved place as a leading pioneer in the world of high art and design, expanding to operate four galleries worldwide, situated in key locations of London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles. Actively involved in the research, conservation and production of limited edition works, the gallery’s choices are guided by seeking an emotional, artistic, and historical relevance and breaking boundaries between art and design.
This ethos is exemplified by the founding of The Workshop complex in Mitry-Mory, on the outskirts of Paris – a unique 8,000 square meters space dedicated to artistic research, bringing together the elite of practitioners and artisans. Within this creative hub, Carpenters Workshop Gallery artists and leading artisans work collaboratively to produce pieces with a hand-finished touch. The gallery’s next exciting chapter is the recent opening of Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s new London space, within the expansive Notting Hill arts hub, Ladbroke Hall.
For more information about this exhibition and others, please visit the Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s website here. The gallery can also be found on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.
