Middle Fork

Superhouse is proud to present Middle Fork, Ellen Pong’s debut solo exhibition. The show runs from November 18, 2022 to January 8, 2023 at Superhouse Vitrine, 75 East Broadway, Second Floor, New York, New York.

Primarily known for her sculptural and playful ceramics, Pong draws on her New York-based community of artists and fabricators to tackle new materials, in addition to her hand-built ceramic works, for her first solo presentation. Inspired by the textures found in the arboreal wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, near where she was raised, Pong has created a sentimental new body of work that incorporates wood, steel, glass, and ceramics.

With Middle Fork, Pong reflects on her time spent in the forested mountains outside Seattle. Far from a pastoral experience of nature, the wilderness in the Pacific Northwest is described by the designer as “harsh, powerful, and indifferent,” commanding deference as much as it inspires awe. “The landscape derives its beauty from a sense of foreboding mystery,” remarks Pong. “These works take inspiration from those moments of brief hallucination, when you can’t help but see what the forest wants to show you.”

Examining closely, in small pockets of the forest, Pong finds moments of ecological creativity. The designer is particularly interested in how disparate natural elements come together, navigate each other, clash, and coexist. Taken as a whole, the work mimics the forest floor in its layered forms, materials and textures. 

“Ellen challenged herself to go beyond her traditional medium of ceramic for Middle Fork,” says Stephen Markos, founder and director of Superhouse. “The resulting work is a moving testament to the designer’s growth and demonstrates her prowess at harnessing material to evoke a mood, a memory, a sensation.”

Ellen Pong
Originally from the West Coast, growing up in a suburb outside of Seattle, Ellen Pong now lives and works in Queens, New York. The designer graduated with a degree in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley. Pong’s self-taught practice blends sensorial observations from both the Pacific Northwest and the chaotic streets of New York City to create furniture, lighting, and objects with a studied playfulness. She has participated in group exhibitions at Emma Scully Gallery (New York, NY), Marta (Los Angeles, CA), Objective Gallery (New York, NY), and Superhouse (New York, NY). Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Curbed, Elle Decor, Metropolis, and Sight Unseen. In 2021, Pong was named on Sight Unseen’s 2021 American Design Hotlist. In December 2022, she will be featured in Superhouse’s Curio booth at Design Miami.

Installation photography by Sean Davidson
Individual works photography by Luis Corzo