Elyse Pignolet at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag

Elyse Pignolet’s mural I AM A WOMAN will be installed on the entrance wall at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag for three years for the exhibition Blauw van jou (Blue Loves You), which draws on the museum’s extensive collection of Delftware along with other contemporary artworks.

Curated by Suzanne Lambooy and Janny van der Heijden, the exhibition unfolds a story about craftsmanship as a living practice and in the broadest sense: from household items to the costliest tulip vases. As well as historical masterpieces, it will also show how today’s makers are reclaiming Delftware. It will feature embroidery, textile art, felt objects, tuftwork and social media makers giving traditional motifs a contemporary interpretation.

In her essay for Pignolet’s monograph You Should Calm Down (2025), Caroline Ellen Liou wrote, “Drawing from her cross-cultural personal and formal background, Pignolet’s practice is rooted in the traditions of blue-and-white ceramics found across the world. The tradition of tin-glazed earthenware originated in the Middle East, where Islamic potters added blue glazes to their imitations of white Chinese porcelain; China, in turn, imported cobalt from the Middle East, which gave rise to their own blue-and-white styles. Since then, the history of tin-glazed earthenware has been a crisscross of cultures. Indeed, the various terms used to refer to the technique (faïence, maiolica, Delftware, to name a few) illustrate the globalized, and often contested, nature of ceramic production and distribution.” Through cobalt glazes and traditional patterns, Pignolet has long employed “Delftware”—an originator of global appropriation—to examine power dynamics, justice, and patriarchy.

ELYSE PIGNOLET

Born in Oakland, CA, Elyse Pignolet is an American with Filipino heritage, living and working in Los Angeles. She attended California State University, San Francisco, studying Fine Arts. In 2001, she lived in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain, studying arts and Spanish language. She completed her BFA degree in ceramics at CSU Long Beach in 2007. Her studies included an intensive ceramics tour through Mainland China, and she also attended the International Ceramics Biennale in Korea. She was awarded a CSU Long Beach Travel Scholarship for Art, and traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, to study traditional tile murals. Pignolet was awarded a fellowship to Ballinglen Arts Center, Ireland. Her large installation No Gods, No Masters premiered at the LA Municipal Art Gallery in 2023 for her COLA Grant. Recent solo exhibitions include MOAH Lancaster, Angel’s Gate’s Gallery, and Ogden Contemporary Arts. She had two-person exhibition at the Long Beach Museum of Art earlier this year and currently has an installation on display at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe.

Pignolet’s practice focuses on ceramics, and her work has been inspired by and dealt with various themes, including political and social issues, the dialectic between feminism and misogyny, inequality, and cultural stereotypes. Exploring the boundaries between ceramics, painting, and sculpture, Pignolet attempts to place the permanence and traditions of ceramics with the fleeting and transitory nature of the contemporary world.

Her works have been featured in a number of publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Frieze Magazine, LA Weekly, Juxtapoz Magazine, The Huffington Post, KQED, Ceramics Art + Perception, LoDown Magazine, Artillery, and Art and Cake LA.

PAST TRACK 16 EXHIBITIONS

You Should Calm Down

I'm Not Like the Other Girls

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

PAST PRESS

Don’t tell Elyse Pignolet to ‘calm down' by Leah Ollman [Los Angeles Times]

Elyse Pignolet’s Aesthetic Strategies for Intersectional Feminism by Amber Power [Frieze Magazine]

Elyse Pignolet Smashes the Patriarchy, Not the Porcelain by Shana Nys Dambrot [LA Weekly]

For inquiries, email info@track16.com