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Rebecca Manson: Time, You Must Be Laughing

Rebecca Manson: Time, You Must Be Laughing

January 8-February 28, 2026

Jessica Silverman is delighted to announce representation of Rebecca Manson, whose debut solo show with the gallery opens on January 8 and runs through February 28, 2026. The New York-based artist is a virtuoso sculptor who explores nature’s microcosms, magnifying delicate details into large, intensely tactile forms. Her practice reimagines ceramics as visceral fantasies where sight is subverted by touch and form surpasses function.

INSTALLATION VIEW
SELECTED WORKS
ARTIST BIO
OTHER EXHIBITIONS

INSTALLATION VIEW

SELECTED WORKS

Rebecca Manson
Exploding Butterfly, 2025
Porcelain, canvas, glaze, adhesives, hardware, pigment, dye, and thread
180 x 156 x 6 inches / 457.2 x 396.2 x 15.2 cm (Overall Dimensions Variable)
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Rebecca Manson, Exploding Butterfly
Rebecca Manson
Shelly, 2025
Porcelain, canvas, glaze, adhesives, hardware, pigment, dye, and thread
70 x 116 x 6 inches / 177.8 x 294.6 x 15.2 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Shelly
A four-part winged wall installation titled Exploding Butterfly (2025) elicits another suspended moment. Monumental butterfly wings appear to drift apart, magnifying a miniscule rupture into a visceral drama, where beauty shatters in slow motion. Their gradual fragmentation conjures awe and angst. The work reflects Manson’s interest in the beauty of decay.
Rebecca Manson
Nightsnack, 2022-2025
Porcelain, glaze, steel, adhesives, enamel paint, epoxy clay, spray foam, patina, hardware, and glass
104 x 104 x 104 inches / 264.2 x 264.2 x 264.2 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Nightsnack
At the center of the exhibition is Nightsnack (2022–2025), an eight-by-eight-foot trompe-l’œil construction made of ceramic and glass. Modeled after Manson’s childhood swing set, its porcelain posts mimic worn lichen-covered wood. An uncannily realistic bag litters a pile of ceramic leaves, while a glass bikini hangs nearby. Both playful and elegiac, the joys of youth and freedom feel tangible but slippery, as if on the brink of expiration.
Rebecca Manson
Black Swallowtail, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, and hardware
108 x 80 x 3 inches / 274.3 x 203.2 x 7.6 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Black Swallowtail
Rebecca Manson
Opal, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, and hardware
54 x 70 x 3 inches / 137.2 x 177.8 x 7.6 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Opal
Rebecca Manson
Blue Admiral Wing, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, hardware, and glass
97 x 56 x 2 inches / 246.4 x 142.2 x 5.1 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Blue Admiral Wing
Rebecca Manson
Black Swallowtail, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, and hardware
108 x 80 x 3 inches / 274.3 x 203.2 x 7.6 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Black Swallowtail
Rebecca Manson
Opal, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, and hardware
54 x 70 x 3 inches / 137.2 x 177.8 x 7.6 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Opal
Rebecca Manson
Blue Admiral Wing, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, hardware, and glass
97 x 56 x 2 inches / 246.4 x 142.2 x 5.1 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Blue Admiral Wing
Manson’s polychromatic glazes create optically rich ecosystems that simulate iridescence, vibration, and motion. Wall works such as Shelly and Blue Admiral Wing (both 2025) exemplify Manson’s technical precision. Shelly shimmers through high-contrast and complementary color rather than reflective glazes. Meanwhile, intricate veining reminiscent of leaves and gem-like glass inlays in Blue Admiral Wing refer to the species’ camouflage. Enlarged many times over, these details evoke the fragility and resilience of natural life cycles and human experience.
Rebecca Manson
Violet Lace, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, and hardware
63 x 46 x 5 inches / 160 x 116.8 x 12.7 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Violet Lace
Rebecca Manson
Oilslick, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, and hardware
38 x 64 x 3 inches / 96.5 x 162.6 x 7.6 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Oilslick
The title of the exhibition, “Time, You Must Be Laughing,” draws from Joni Mitchell’s 1975 song “Sweet Bird” and evokes the dark humor of impermanence. The exhibition features 13 sculptures, made primarily of porcelain, depicting larger-than-life butterfly and moth wings, flowers, and a swing set. Together, these works explore the relationships between bodies and the natural world, and time as a force that reshapes both.
Rebecca Manson
Torn Wingtip, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, and steel
64 x 66 x 58 inches / 162.6 x 167.6 x 147.3 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Torn Wingtip
Rebecca Manson
Basal Scrap, 2025
Porcelain, canvas, glaze, adhesives, and steel
34 x 31 x 29 inches / 86.4 x 78.7 x 73.7 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Basal Scrap
Rebecca Manson
Discal Shrapnel, 2025
Porcelain, canvas, glaze, adhesives, steel, and nail polish
31 x 30 x 31 inches / 78.7 x 76.2 x 78.7 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Discal Shrapnel
Rebecca Manson
Torn Wingtip, 2025
Porcelain, glaze, adhesives, canvas, and steel
64 x 66 x 58 inches / 162.6 x 167.6 x 147.3 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Torn Wingtip
Rebecca Manson
Basal Scrap, 2025
Porcelain, canvas, glaze, adhesives, and steel
34 x 31 x 29 inches / 86.4 x 78.7 x 73.7 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Basal Scrap
Rebecca Manson
Discal Shrapnel, 2025
Porcelain, canvas, glaze, adhesives, steel, and nail polish
31 x 30 x 31 inches / 78.7 x 76.2 x 78.7 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Discal Shrapnel
After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Manson received a Windgate-Lamar Fellowship that ultimately led to an outdoor public work in Tribeca Park. A later collaboration with engineers yielded a flexible adhesive that enabled bonded pieces of porcelain to behave like textiles. This innovation opened the door to the signature moth and butterfly wings. Composed of thousands of hand-shaped glazed clay that she calls “smushes,” the works roar with material intelligence. Manson’s work is in conversation with the history of impressionist and post-impressionist painting as well as the witty ceramics of Grayson Perry and Arlene Shechet.
Rebecca Manson
Leaning Iris, 2022
Porcelain, glaze, steel, adhesives, patina, paint, hardware, and concrete
55 x 69 x 52 inches / 139.7 x 175.3 x 132.1 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Leaning Iris
Rebecca Manson
Mother's Day Sunflower, 2022
Porcelain, glaze, steel, adhesives, patina, paint, hardware, and concrete
60 x 57 x 62 inches / 152.4 x 144.8 x 157.5 cm
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Rebecca Manson , Mother's Day Sunflower
Manson’s relationship to clay began at age eight when she started taking pottery classes. She has since spent her career leveraging its materiality to examine embodiment, empathy, and the relationship between vitality and decay. Though her sculptures often assume abstract or winged forms, they are rooted in the figure. Her journey from pottery to sculpture has embraced clay furniture, porcelain sunflowers, and animal pelts, all acting as proxies for the human body.
Throughout the exhibition, beginnings and endings coexist. Manson embraces change as a constant, positioning her work as a place where grief lifts and the persistence of nature offers grounded hope. Embodying both strength and vulnerability, Manson’s work insists that transformation—emotional, ecological, and material—is not merely a condition to endure but a site where new meaning forms.
Rebecca Manson (b. 1989, New York, NY) has a BFA in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design. She was the subject of recent solo exhibitions at Arsenal Contemporary, Montreal and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX. She has participated in group exhibitions at Ballroom Marfa, TX; Katonah Museum of Art, NY; and Center for Craft, Asheville, NC, among others. She is the recipient of numerous residencies and awards including The Arctic Circle, Svalbard, Norway; The Oxbow School, Napa, CA; California State University Long Beach, CA; and the Windgate-Lamar Fellowship, Little Rock, AR. Her work is in the public collections of the Bunker Collection, Miami; the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas; and Arsenal Contemporary Art, Montreal. Manson lives and works in Brooklyn. She is represented by Josh Lilley, London and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.
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