Jennifer King (b. 1968, Connecticut) received her BFA in ceramics from University of Colorado, Boulder. Recent exhibitions include Lefebvre et Fils Gallery, Paris, FR (2024), Laisun Keane, Boston, MA (2023), Eutectic Gallery, Portland, OR (2022), and The Pit, Los Angeles, CA (2022). King has been awarded a residency at The Residency Program, Versaille, FR with Lefebvre et Fils. Her works are in the public collections of the MAD Museum, New York, NY, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA. She is represented by The Pit, Los Angeles.
As an artist, King is drawn to the alchemy between material, subject, and the act of making. Her work explores myth, identity, and the roles—especially those assigned to women—that shape and often constrain us, using humor, texture, and imperfection as tools to question order and control. The texts and titles embedded in King’s vessels are fragments—memories, and fleeting observations from daily life. The paintings draw from everyday moments: tending her garden, raising children, processing the isolation and insight of the pandemic. King’s work seeks to express the tension between our deep need for connection and the contradictions embedded in that longing. The vessel—as both symbol and form—embodies this duality: it protects, but it can also confine. Through her practice, King invites reflection on the personal and the collective, the tender and the absurd, and the ongoing search for equilibrium in an ever-shifting world.
Los Angeles based ceramicist Jennifer King is deeply invested in the alchemy between materials, subject matter and the act of creation. Her work explores themes of myth, identity and the roles that define people, particularly women, with a focus on transcending the mundane. The vessel form resonates with the artist, both for its historical context and its inherent connection to domestic objects. Embracing imperfections, textures and the traces of the hand, are deliberate and integral to each piece. Through this, King aims to imbue her practice with a sense of humor, exploring the abandonment of control and order in our lives, while reflecting on the absurd and often painful moments we endure. At the heart of this exploration is the universal desire to belong. The titles and embedded texts on the interiors of the vessels are fragments of thoughts, fleeting moments and reflections on everyday life.
Video by Treva Wurmfeld. Music by Garth Stevenson. Camera assistant Katie Walker.