Christopher Russell, Pair of Lantern Jars, USA, 2025
In a striking response to our collaboration with de Gournay on view at Bergdorf Goodman, ceramicist Christopher Russell debuts a new series of hand-built vessels—a contemporary homage to chinoiserie and historical Chinese forms. His Lantern Jars, Celadon Vines Vessels, and Trellis Vessel merge tradition with bold, graphic modernism, adorned in geometric patterns rendered in celadon, turquoise, silver-gray, and soft neutrals. “I intended the large surfaces and simple oval pattern as a canvas where I could play with the silvery grays, blues, and greens in the wallpaper,” Russell notes. Built in pairs, the vessels engage in visual dialogue, their textured surfaces created through stencil resists, sgraffito, and custom glazes—elements that invite both aesthetic and tactile engagement.
These vessels are more than just functional—they’re an exploration of space, structure, and the beauty found in the natural world. They embody the spirit of innovation and creative risk that defines Russell’s entire body of work.
Conclusively the agony and joy in his ceramic practice comes from what is left to chance. Best laid plans are at the mercy of the kiln, making each work a risky venture and each success a treasurable object.
Russell has been the subject of solo shows at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse NY, and the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art in Sedalie WI. His work has also been exhibited widely in group exhibitions, including at The Bernardaud Foundation in Limoges, France, the Royal West Academy in Bristol, England, the Paul Robeson Gallery at Rutgers University, and WaveHill, the prestigious public gardens in The Bronx, New York. Among numerous private collections his work is also in the collection of Longhouse Reserve: The Jack Lenor Larsen Estate. Notable commissions include a large-scale ceramic wall mural for NYU Langone Hospital, as well as a commission by New York City’s Metro Transit Authority of two sets of cast bronze gates and sculpted finials for the fences that surround the Ninth Avenue subway station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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