Modern and Postmodern ceramics

These two vessels were made by Pablo Picasso and are a good example of abstraction in ceramics. Picasso was a socialist and part of his motivation for working with clay was that socialists saw high art as elitist and decadent (thus unacceptable). Pottery on the other hand was considered to be a rustic and noble vocation which was in perfect harmony with the proletariat ruled society that socialists envisioned.

            
This sculptural form was made by Joan Miro. Both Miro and Picasso enlisted the help of master potter Jose Llorens Artigas to do their work in clay.

      

The Italian Futurist artist Lucio Fontana worked extensively in clay, but is best known for his canvases. He treated his clay pieces in much the same way that he treated his two dimensional surfaces. He generally worked in single colors and with simple forms which he would slash and puncture. He did this to attempt to impress upon the viewer the possibility of a fourth dimension. Fontana and the futurists believed that it was the roll of art, science, philosophy and politics to establish a new consciousness and hence a new world order. 

   

This vessel by the Pueblo artist Maria Martinez is a good example of the traditional pottery of that region. The celebration of her work and culture are an example multiculturalism in ceramics.

           

The sculptural work of the Japanese artist Akio Takamori has a narrative quality to it that never would have been acceptable to modernist artists. His large pieces transform the gallery into a stage bustling with a patchwork of micro-narratives.

When do you think this piece was made? 1990, surprised? It is an appropriation of late 1700’s style ceramics. This piece is a riff on a piece that was made for Napoleon’s mistress Madam Pompadour. The image on the vessel is a self portrait of the artist Cindy Sherman. Sherman does a neat trick with this piece because it is an example of both appropriation (borrowed style) and re-appropriation. The artist places a portrait of herself on the object thus inverting the objectification of the female form committed in the original.

            

The work of Adrian Saxe is an example of another kind of borrowing. His work is composed almost entirely of styles, forms, and objects that are borrowed from somewhere else. In a way his style of work is similar to the way hip hop artists create beats: sampling here and there then adding on a little of their own input to make something new.

      

“Field” by Antony Gormley is composed of thousands of clay figurines that fill the gallery space. This piece is a good example of installation art.

       
“World Mandala” by Neil Tetkowski has 188 different clay samples collected from each country represented by the United Nations. The piece inspires reflection upon the rich diversity of cultures and ideas that exist in our global community. It suggests that a celebration of diversity and tolerance of differences is the way to find piece.

      
This installation piece by Richard Notkin comments on the danger of nuclear warfare. The image of a mushroom cloud in the background is a mosaic of small tiles that were colored with smoke.