View of Matthias Merkel Hess's installation "Hereafter," 2013. Courtesy Salon 94.
For his first solo show in New York, Los Angeles-based ceramic artist Matthias Merkel Hess has transformed the gallery into a combination toy store/home goods shop. A large wooden shelving unit is laden with rows of brightly glazed retro kitchen appliances (stand mixers, coffee makers, etc.). Throughout the gallery are neatly arranged clusters of other ceramic objects-SuperSoaker water guns, Mr. Potato Head toys and rubber chickens, as well as empty vessels like buckets, garbage cans and milk crates.