Our paths first crossed, unknown until many years later, at an intimate yet bustling wedding reception in a south Chicago apartment. This was probably 30 years ago, perhaps even the same year a new gallery, Torno Wright, opened at the end of my street to a fanfare of Eames, heralding new changes to come. Criss-crossing breezes of chance encounters, meandering spirits, hazy focus of time and space, of enthusiasm and knowledge sought, now united again in the same city.
That same serendipity, prompting impulse and discovery, guided welcome reward in the crucible of that great industrial city, still littered with the artefacts of the American mid-century. It was within this uneven yet fertile terrain, hidden slightly below surface, that Patrick’s intuitive talent—honed first as photographer then embellished as artist—would treasure the valuable neglected as passionate collector, and then as the inspirational dealer that I was to meet again, years later in New York City.
If asked to select one word to describe Patrick, I would resist and pick two. The first would be curiosity—a fundamental essential, to stimulate inquiry and rigour in all things, both great and small, of any era or region, type or surface. Even the most fleeting survey of this selection for sale is a celebration of innovation and of inspiration—an unerring eye for the unusually exceptional, or perhaps the exceptionally unusual. The chances are, that these are indeed discoveries that you have not yet realized that you needed to make.
Mentor, would be my second word. If artefacts and objects articulate visual, cultural and historic language, then the fluency of skillful mentorship—to guide, nurture, describe and explain—releases the eloquence of murmuring histories. In this capacity Patrick is that most earnest and sincere of excellent narrators. If ever I had friends, clients or colleagues visiting New York looking for unusual inspiration, there was always the certainty that Patrick’s gallery would offer them a glimpse of the hitherto unseen or the unusually seductive, always with the reassurance of the most fascinating story waiting to be told.
Mentorship and curiosity, when balanced in equal measure, reveal the precious alchemy of a curator. And it is the duty of the mature curator to discern and detect, to cultivate change, and from there to pioneer, and to share. Innovation is never static, and the Present is already the Future. Fresh dialogs evolve, energies to be nurtured, opportunities to be guided. Renewed and re-orientated, Patrick now faces fully forward—as benefactor, interlocutor and mentor to a new, inquisitive generation of talented creators, and the quest for discovery rejuvenates.
— Simon Andrews
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Doyle Lane 1925–2002
Doyle Lane was a master craftsman, a true artist with an enormous talent matched only by his technical skills. Born in New Orleans in 1925, Lane moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s and maintained a studio in the El Sereno district. He studied at Los Angeles City College and later attended the University of Southern California. Under the tutelage of designers Glen Lukens, Vivika Heino and F. Carlton Ball, Lane honed his pottery skills at the wheel and in the kiln, crafting beads, pots, stunningly glazed tiles and abstract “clay paintings”. Undeniably tactile and bold, his innovative glazes screamed to be touched. Ranging from volcanic and rugged to glossy and slick, Lane’s artworks are both physical and visual delights.
A committed artist, Lane supported himself through his artwork and technical expertise alone. When a fellow Black student at LACC declared ceramics as “…mainly for white people.” Lane bristled at the limitation. He had a tireless work ethic, spending countless hours in the studio perfecting his technique and using creative business strategies to promote and sell his works. (Lane was known to carry boxes of his “weed pots”—tiny bud vases for holding a single wildflower—to galleries and architectural offices in Los Angeles). These door-to-door ventures paid off, and the artist became popular with architects, completing many large-scale commissions for tile mosaics including works at the Golden State Bank, International Children’s School, Miller Robinson and the Mutual Savings and Loan Association (which was later acquired and installed at the Huntington Library in 2016). Along with public works, Lane exhibited at the Brockman Gallery in Leimert Park, at Ankrum Gallery on La Cienega and in the seminal California Design exhibitions in 1958, 1959 and 1960.
While he was an established and well-regarded figure in West Coast ceramics during his time, it is also undeniable that Lane was not afforded the same opportunities and representation as his white peers. In recent years, his oeuvre has garnered long-overdue and much deserved recognition, and Lane’s expertly crafted works continue to be highly sought-after by private collectors and institutions alike.
