Ceramics Sk Art and Perception INTERNATIONALAustralian National University Graduate Ceramics -fieldwork options -flexibly delivered -industry placements -full or part time study Image:lan Jones (PhD candid), anagama fred jar 2009, Stoney Hole Creek granite clay, 24x 24 0 cm, Photo Stuart Hay ANU Photography Enquire about on campus and flexible delivery options for graduate studies leading to Certificate, Diploma and Masters awards. Also research programs leading to MPhil and PhD. http://studyat.anu.edu.au/graduate_studies.html Head of Workshop Janet DeBoos Janet.DeBoos@anuedu.au httpy//soa.anu.edu.au/ceramics THE AUSTRALAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY ‘ANUCICDS Provider Number 01206Ceramics m9 Art and Perception INTERNATIONAL Contents ARTICLES Departures - Michael Moore Audrey Whitty 3 Julia Galloway — Quiescent: A Review Syd Carpenter 9 Jason Lim’s Clay Addiction Zulharli Adnan 12 Clementina van der Walt: A Review Eugene Hon 18 Chad Curtis ~Retooling Technology Glen R Brown 22 ‘Two Views: Adil Writer Shanti Pillai and Anahite Contractor 28 A Review of Clay Economies Rigel Sorzano 32 Stations of the Cross ~ Jiilia Néma Matydés Varga 36 Dorothy Feibleman Cate McQuaid 39 The Margins: A Review Adam Welch 42 Brigitte Pénicaud — Musical Picturality Frangoise de L’Epine 48 Origins: Marcet and Vila-Abadal Eva Rodriguez 52 Russell Wrankle Peter Stempel 56 Ina Relationship ~ Kevin Snipes. Jennifer DePaolo VanHorn 59 Art, Technology & The Human Imperative Scarlet Cheng 64 Spheres & Sense ~BozenaSacharczuk Dr Andrzej Jarosz_68 Thoroughly Modem — Edith Heath Judy Seckler 71 Ester Beck ~ Movement in Matter Hagai Segev 74 Kirsi Kivivirta: Minimalist Wall Compositions Asa Hellman 77 Organic Bonds~ Burcu Karabey A Feyza Ozgiindogdu 80 The Silences 0’ Still Life- Laurent Craste Pascale Beaudet 84 Earth to Form: A Review Brett Ballard 88 Cindy Kolodziejski’s Water World July Seckler 93 Appreciating Ceramics Ian Christopher Wilson 97 Jason Briggs - Not-so Private Parts Stephanie Stuefer 101 1st British Biennial: A Review Michael C Stewart 106 Coming Events 110 Recent Publicetions m2 Editor” Elaine 0. Henry Office Manager Cheryl Fields . Profreder Diane Bailiff Dorothy Feibleman Printing St Croix Press New Richmond, Wisconsin, US Cover Red + White Saki Cup . Des gned and published quarterly by Ceramic Art 3xisin 23 North Scott Street ~ Suite 16, Sheridan, Wyoming 82801 US, ‘Telephone 001.307.675.1056 Facsimile 001.207.675.1057 E-mail Iceramicart@gmail.com Skype -ceramicart Internet www.ceramicart.com.au Photo by KudosRight Flaine Olafson Henry Advise Linda Arbuckle Sergei Isupov Frank Boyden ‘anet Mansfield Grace Cochrane Les Manning Janet DeBoos, ‘Owen Rye Mary Jane Edwards. Shira Silverston, Jennifer Forsberg Jeff Zamek ‘Tony Franks Editorial contributions are welcome. For advertising contact Jolioson Masia Management PO Box 9 Turramurra NSW 2074 Australi Tel-61 294408882 Fax: 6129440 4492 jahsonmediatbigpond.com SKYPE: johnson.media Opinions expressed are those athe authoes of ates. Although all eitovl materi i checked for accuracy, the publishers canto a expt responsiblity for inkemation printed in this magezine that may beambigods oF incr sec All ater published copyright please Soak permission fo eprint magazine content. Indexing: Cras: Art and Parson is ine dened by dig and apped art index (a), publish onine by ProQuest, The Quocum, Bamvell Rood, Cambrige CBS s8W, UK’ Thomson TSI services, Philadelphia and by ‘Ar? bier, published in sent and electric form by the HL W. Wikon Company, Ne York and RMIT Tang Pty Lt, Moar and Thomson Gale, Farrington Hl Nic fon 483913535 USA yewnegecom. Full txt S& Conic: Ar ant Peco appears i the ‘econ databases OMINIFILE Fal Tet Magn Elton ad OMNIFILE Pal Test Set Ceramics: Art and Perception (ISSN: 135: 18h) Copyright © 2010 by Ceramic Artis published four times per ear by Ceramic At BNorth Scot sre Suit 1 Sheridan Wyo" ining 2801-397 Monthso! kaue ae March, September and Decumbe: Business Accounting and Creation Ofc 2BNorth Scot Set Sue 16 Sheridan, Wyoming 2801 USA, Vis wircenamicart coms call 01176751058 to subscribe oF for information on reaing the magaine. AP plestion mai at Periods postage oes & pec at New York NY and sdatonal. tntlingofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changesto Ceramic Ar 23 North Sot Street ~ Site 16, ‘Sheridan Sheridan, Wyoming 82801-6397 ISSN 1035-1841 Editorial ‘The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) is an organization that gives aid to US artists whose livelihoods depend upon their studio work but who have lost those studios through natural disasters such as a hurricane, flood, earthquake, fire or other occurrence or have lost the ability to work due to health issues. CERF ac- complishes its mission through direct financial and educational fance to craft artists, including emergency relief assistance, business cevelopment support and resources and referrals on topics such as health, safety and insurance. Recently, they re- leased their new Studio Protector which is the one tool no stu- dio artist in any country should be without. It is a calendar- sized wall chart with wheel charts and pull-out booklets that cover the essential points of preparing for and recovering from emergencies. You can learn more about this essential tool and order your copy for $16 USD through the CERF web site at www.craftemergency.org. The earthcuake in Haiti has been a reminder of our vulnerability. Between 28 April and 2 May of this year, hundreds of ceramic artists will again converge in the picturesque historic town of Gulgorg for the eighth triennial conference, Clay Energy Gulgong 2010. For five days this small clay-tich town, 290 km west of Sydney, Australia will ignite into an epicentre for in- ternational ceramics. For more information on attending, go to www.ceramicart.netau. In the advertising section of this issue, ‘ook for the Call for Speak- ers and Call for Emerging Artists Competition for the International Ceramics Magazine Editors Association 2010 Conference to be held in TuPing, China from 8-15 November. There will be cash and resi- dency awards for the exhibition. The deadline for submissions for speakers is 30 May and 30 June for the exhibition. The International Academy of Ceramics will hold its General Assembly from 13-16 September, 2010 in Paris, France. The theme for this biennial Assembly is Territories in Movement. Registration is organized through the following web page: www.aic2010.com. The international programs, exhibitions and meetings promise to be stimulating and members and non members are encouraged to attend. The next issue of Ceramics: Art and Perception will include a special section for a paper selected by the international review panel on the topic of Ceramics: CRITICAL/CRITICISM. What does it look like? What should it look like? Th2 review panel consists of David Craig of New Zealand, Yorunn Veiteberg of Denmark and Paul Greenhalgh of the US. They will have completed the review process by the time this issue reaches readers and I am looking forward to seeing the results. The photo on this page (for this issue) is at the request of read- ers who want to see more of a visual of the editor. We will con- tinue to show others at events around the world in future is- sues and periodically run images of the editor. Thope that you are enriched by this issye Lieb) BleepArticle by Acrobat (Dea). a Audrey WhittyCurator of Ceramics in the National Museum of Ireland that I first came across the work of Michael Moore. At that stage of his career he was completing a Masters Degree on the history of Irish studio ceramics from the 1940s up to the 1970s. This was the first time such an important topic had been addressed in its totality and the resulting thesis con tains a wealth of archival material previously unre- searched under che broad heading of 20th-cen-ury Irish ceramic art What strikes one then, as now, is the ambitious nature of Moore's output, whether artistic or academic, and how the sense of monumen tality evident in his sculpture has increased through- out the last decade. This heightened sense of scale lends credence to his artistic statement at the time of the landmark National Museum Not Just Pots: ‘rsh Ceramics of the 21st Century exhibition in 2005-2006, which still holds true now in the interpretatior of his display at the Millennium Court Arts Centre: “L work only with clay and its natural fired colour, usually white or red. These pieces are rarely stained or glazed as the area of investigation is abstract clay I: TWAS SHORTLY AFTER MY APPOINTMENT IN 2001 AS form. I seek wherever possible to pare back clutter, confusion and distraction to reveal a simple, yet challenging form, therefore, elements such as surface decoration are non-existent.” Coupled with a more apparent interest in scale isa sleekness and sensuality of form rarely seen in Irish ceramics, with the obvious exception of Vivienne Foley (now based in Little Venice, London). Yet whereas Foley began her artistic practice using the vessel form, Moore hes always been first and fore- most a sculptor whose play of line in abstract form has consistently become more accentuated. The artist himself best describes this sculptural development ““{am interested in the anticipation of form, trying to gauge how the eye travels over sculpture, perhaps searching for a conclusion. I try to quietly challenge that and explore the unease or uncertainty that chal- lenge may create as I seem more fluent as an artist in the realm of abstraction found in the relationship between the built and natural environment.” This interplay between the man-made and natural environment is evident in the titles of Moore's most recent body of work. Names such as Chambers, Third Below left: Chambers. 22 x 68 x 22 om Below rig: Chambers (Details). 4 Coramics: Art and Perception No, 79 2010,Wave and Three Peaks contrast with those of Drum Form, Platform and Acrobat. This body of work was produced at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, ‘Along with the obvious push to increase scale came influence from contemporary dance based on his conversations with soloists at Banff. It is in this, realisation that akey is found in unlocking the inher- ‘ent meaning in Moore's sculpture. Just as the form of the human body is visually censored in our psy- che, 50 too are Moore's abstract clay forms, for exam- ple, their lines trigger the familiar in our conscious, which can be likened to the same aesthetic appeal of the human form, There is an unmistakable drive to reach out and touch the work but, as with all great artistic form, the spectator tends not to do so, pre- ferring instead tc examine from various angles. This need in us to view from all vantages calls to mind the titles of the work, particularly those of Chamber and Three Peaks, where there is a sense of looking into crevices of actual man-made and natural struc: tures, In additicn the prevailing influence of the human body is quite noticeable but particularly in Three Peaks’ where one can almost visualise the arch of a dancer’s back actoss the line of the surface. As with the more developed line of Platform, Three Peaks belies a more complicated substructure. The genius of Moor is in his deceptively simple esachieved only through a complicated structure, handbuilt with foresight. It is in this area that comparison can be made with Irish ceramic art- ist Deirdre McLoughlin (now based in Amsterdam, Holland). Like Moore, her overriding hallmark is that of form. Indeed when McLoughlin received the 2004 Westerwald Prize, Kohr-Grenzhausen, Germany the accompanying jury statement can also be said to be indicative of Moore's current artistic premise: “exquisite technique which also corresponds to the language of ideas: finest marble seems to have been used rather than clay, warmth and skin-like surfaces are to be found where unglazed surface defines spa- ‘i curvature, volume.” Some comparisons can also be drawn between Moore and the work ef another Irish ceramic artist, Katharine West. Like Moore, West is heavily influ- enced by land and seascapes and it is interesting, to note that in Moore's push to increase scale and. Below lft: Three Peaks, 36 x 38 x 25 cm. Below right: Three Peaks (Detail) F Ceramics: At and Perception No. 782010monumentality, more similarities emerge between his artistic works and those of West. As with Mcore, the influence of memory on West's work is of para- ‘mount significance: “Archetypal form as it relates to our collective pest and memory is often exploited through connections such as artefact, object, proc 5s, function, form and clay” (Katharine West artistic statement, 2005). ‘A fundamental influence on Moore, although perhaps not so cbvious to the artist himself, is that of modemism. Certainly Moore has paid homage to the inspiration he has derived from modern and postmodern architecture but the influence of sculp- tural modernist: is also evident, particularly that of Brancusi. It is here again that Moore is similer in this respect to recent work by Vivienne Foley who also cites Brancusi as an historic reference. Indeed if one looks at early 20-century artistic movemenss, a quote from Boccioni’s Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture (April 1912) is relevant when discussing Moore's work: “Let us get rid of the lot, and let us proclaim the absolute and ‘nal discarding of the finite ineand of the closed form statue. Let us tear the body cpen and let us include its surroundings in it... Thus can the transparent planes of glass, of sheet metal, wires, electric outside and inside lighting indicate the planes, the directions, the tones and the half-tones of a new reality.” Substitute the aforementioned Platform. 27 x 65.322 em. 6 Ceramics: Art and Perception No, 79 2010, listed media for ceramics in association with the con- rete importance of external lighting and the same statement can be made of Moore's current output. Two works in particular embody this tearing open of the form/body in order to create varying planes and directions: Platform and. Acrobat. in Platform, the sleekness of line masks a complicated form. The incredible smoothness visible and amphitheatre- like shape can be said to be emblematic of some of the highest examples of moder architecture. For instance, when one examines the line of Platform, one cannot help but be reminded of buildings such as Lake Point Tower, Chicago of 1968 by Schipporeit- Heinrich Associates. Its curved apex-like shape is reminiscent of the curvature and overall upright position of Platform. In contrast Drum Form is a more traditional Moore shape, similar in some respects to the two 2005 examples in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland. Likewise, Third Weve, where there is also an intermingling of natural and. Platform (Detail).man-made influences, reinforced through the use of a rougher texture. Perhaps a lest obvious aspect to Moore's work is that of Asian ceramic art. This is not surprising when one considers his residencies and work in this area of the world. His artis found in the collec- tions of the Icheon World Ceramic Foundation in Korea, the Taipei County Museum of Ceramics in Taiwan and the international Museum of Ceramics in Fuping, China Perhaps subconsciously Moore has been affected while working in the Far East by that region’s rich historical legacy in ceramics. It is par ticularly in the surface texture of his work where one can detect this in‘luence. Apart from the obvious dif- ference of Moore's work being unglazed and much of fine historical Chinese ceramics being glazed, there is some similarity in the texture of his work and its off-white (buff or uncoloured) form as Song Dynasty (968-1279AD) Ding ware. The slightly pitted surface sometimes visible on 12th-century Jun ware Drum (Detail). is another comparison. The difference in Moore's output, however, is its wholly modern influence in proportion and line, which comes from the world of more traditional fine arts than those of ceramics, glass or metals. 2 pefore summarising the atistic contribution ofthe work of Moore, another important and often over- looked influence is that of the modem European tradition. In his capacity as a council member of the International Acacemy of Ceramics in Geneva, Moore is uniquely placed at the heart of contem- porary developments. Added to this is the fact that his work is represented in the collections of the Panevezys Civic Art Gallery, Lithuania; Museum of Ceramics, Bechyne Czech Republic; Keramion, Germany; and the National Museum of Latvia in Riga. Indeed it is most likely the Central European. mociern aesthetic in ceramic art that can be said to be most evident in Moore's work. One thinks spe- Cifically of the work of Czech artist Pavel Knapek regarding minimal or no use of colour and the overall architectural impression despite relative smallness of scale. Another adherent to non-use of colour whose art shows similarity in scale and proportion to Moore's work is the Icelandic artist Drumm, 37 x22 ¥ 36. Coramics: At and Perception No. 782010 7Gudny Magnusdottir. Likewise the Dutch ceremic artist Barbara Nanning in terms of proportion and in her use of red-fired earth colouring. However, Magnusdottit’s repertoire is that of stoneware, while Nanning’s is primarily that of earthenware. ‘The lasting thought on experiencing Moore's work is that of perfectly balanced forms on a high level of excellence in either Irish or British ceramic art, The poise and elegance visible, whether inspired by the natural or man-made landscapes of this planet is the primary effect. This stems from the artist’s intuitive use of material and chosen scale, which is not always so successfully achieved by others. His shapes are organic and full of vitality, using a substance of this earth, clay. It isin this respect that Michael Moore's contribution to the Irish ceramic artistic output 's of most significance for the history of the subject in the N » Above left and right, Switch Form (Details) Below: Acrobat. 37x43. 41 em. 8 Goramics: Art and Perception No, 78 2010, early 2Ist century. His exquisite forms are likely to increase in both dimension and beauty. Emotional resonance, texture, sleekness of form and perfected technique are the works’ standard bearers, This text is reprinted from an exhibition catalogue commissioned by the Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Northern Ireland. Fundedby the ArtsCouncil of Northera Ireland and she Craigavon Borough Council, Audrey Whitty isCuratorofCeramics Glassand Asian collections, National Museum of reland, Collis Barracks. Michael Moore, MA.(NCAD,, PgCert NUT isthe Reader inFineand Applied Arts, Ceramics, University of Ulster Boliast School of Art and Design, Northern Ireland. He is a member ofthe Intemational Academy of Ceramics All pieces are made from Plainsmans F100G Stoneware Clay, Medicine Ht, Canada, Photosby David Pauley. Above: Switch Form. 31 x'50.x 27 em. Below: Third Wave (Detail).Long View of Gallery. Article by Syd Carpenter 'ULIA GALLOWAY'S QUIESCENT 18 A LESSON ON BEAUTY AS ‘an instrument of disarmament against compla- eency and padding the nest. Quiescent is seduction stough accessible visual appeal, a reprieve from the elusive and obscure, There is, however, a warning, to be heeded as its soothing tones are offered much too loudly to be no more than the sum of their own lovely parts. A claser look is required. ‘The installatien is accessed only after moving beyond a dark partition adorned with white plates, visual notes ou: of touch with events to ccme, Tellingly, the stem positioning of regimented guard- ian pitchers on geometrically anonymous white pedestals propose a purpose extending beyond the impulse to adorn. Entering, the impression created is one of a glowing implausible cage, one in which auditory and material textures fade in and out of focus or in some cases, completely out of view. Alice's grinning Cheshire comes to mind. The viewer is delighted by the simultaneous tweets, chirps, squawks, peeps and trillings of birds discharged by motion activated sound modules concealed through- ‘out the installation. An inerease in movement and numbers of viewers intensifies the volume and ser- cendipity of this unexpected avian chorus, In homage to John Audubon’s watercolour mas- terpieces, Galloway drew one species of North American bird on each of almost two hundred por- celain cups, each draw:ng derived from an Audubon original. The cups are arranged in drifts over the walls, each cup resting on a small coarsely con- structed wooden shelf. The spare contours of the squared cups and shelves hover against a backdrop of ebulliently drawn, but orderly arabesques, trel- lis and foliage. The smudged chalk colours echo the dry blue lines and turcuoise glazes of the soda-fired. cups. On the inside 0° each lip is the haphazardly stamped name of the illustrated bird allowing the viewer to mouth Boat Tailed Grackle, Red Breasted Grosbeak, Loggerhead Shrike, Yellow-breasted Chat, Brown Booby, Rufous Sided Towhee, the Mangrove Cuckoo and Tufted Titmouse. Best to keep moving or the sounds die and the illusion goes ‘poof’ Familiar with Galloway's earlier work cel- ebrating the solace of domesticity located in the beauty of objects, the viewer is not disappointed, as these attributes are here in abundance. Colours on the walls and objects are seductive, lush. The bird drawings are most often elegant although somewhat laboured. Some appear more as diagrams rather than. products of perception. It begs the question of how the images would read if drawn from Galloway's own observations rather than Audubon transla- tions. Happily one has only to tum the cups to Ceramics: At and Perception No. 7920109Detail of Pitchers. re-discover Galloway at her most brilliant. A layer- ing of resist and slip trailed decorations shimmers through washes of turquoise glaze. Rumpled vei of gold lustre glowing over scrolls and loops are positioned, hard edged, against sheaths of mist green barely concealing yet another layer of deftly applied linear adornment. Here Galloway is inher glory. Imagine ker, a porcelain cup resting in one hand, the other applying pressure to the trailer, Jaying down ribbons of slip, raising clef shaped welts 10. Coramics: Art and Perception No, 782010 Detail of Wails of Cups with Song Birds. on pristine clay. Amplified elegance results with the touch of soda fire, a rich formal combination riffing on shape, pattern, colour and line recalling 9th to 12th century Islamic lustre wares. More, please ‘An initial reading would suggest the display is, calculated to delight :he viewer with a chorus of sounds, beautiful craftsmanship and calming col- ours. The precisely spaced arabesques, unwavering, vertical patterns and symmetrically drawn foliage of the chalked cage indicate nature held at bay Enchanted viewers flit and wander, soothed by the disembodied tweets and warbles, The ‘birds’ are held inside this staged aviary, their animation frozen as decoration on the cups. The viewer as an active participant in the performance, triggers each emis- sion of sound. The atmosphere is relaxed, reveren- tial as ¥ups are handled, compared, swrutinized, ten returned carefully to the wall. These are accessible works, visually pleasirg with the capacity to inform. But are we finished here? ‘second pass through the gallery invites recollec- tions of not just Audubon, the iconic artist, and Julia as.a devoted artist paying homage to him but assess- ‘ments of presentation, context and intent. Audubon’s original paintings were also a product, of staging. After hiring hunters to gather specimens, his compositions of birds in their wild environment were achieved in the studio with the deceased bodiesDetail of Wall of Cups. of his models positioned in unrealistic poses and environments. A small price to pay for the eventual tention brought to the natural world even as the nuustrial revolution. war literally and figuratively picking up steam and the precipitous decline in the environment uncer way. Ironically even as. once common species 50 famously illustrated by Audubon disappear from the landscape, the impulse to repr0- duce and collect specimens intensify. Compounded by the status of almost one thir of the birds of North, American now in dectine, there are some questions regarding at least some of the serenity implied in Quiescence. Considering each cup as an individual object Zes- tined forisolatior from the theatricality of Galloway's display, more work is required of the viewer. Their presentation in the context of multitudes contrasts sharply with the status of each as a lone representa- fe of the whole. Despite user friendly proportions and materials, the cup’s every day utility is condi- tional. Added to the commemorative aspect is the unavoidable comparison with medieval reliquaries containing fragmented artefacts presented in adomed cathedrals, not unlike the fragmented disembodied chirps in Galloway's fandangled bird cage. With its phalanx of guardian pitchers focusing on a distant wall, this exhibition recalls those antique, ritual ized interiors. The gallery is also the market and in Detail of Entrance W anticipation of the mass dispersal of her ‘bi Galloway in Quiescent zalls attention to env tal peril even as each object is presented as a seduce tive souvenir, a collectable artefact, delivered for acquisition and display. Syd Carpenter is a ceramic sculptor living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the US, Her work is nckaded in the collections of| the Philadelphia Museum Art and the Pennsylvania Academy ofthe Fine Aas. She currently chairs the Department of Att at Swarthmore College eption No. 782010 11Jason Lim's Clay Addiction Article by Zulharli Adnan every ceramist avoids. uring 4.5 metres by 1.5 metres. Its flowers downcast, Just Dharma by Jason Lim (b. 1966) falls within shying away from the heavens, as were the stemmed ‘an instant. Propelled downward by her weight lotus leaves, as if hung out to dry. Illuminated and mass, as gravity enforced its pull it caused from within by over 500 amber bulbs, Dharma is Just Dharma, the incandescent. ceramic installation ‘The installation was slated fer destruction as ini- cum chandelier, to tially planned for the inaugural event. On opening day, explodewhenitcame Lim began his performance by lighting Just Dharma into contact with from within. Enlivened, Just Dharma breathed and the floor. The instal was led to pulsate rhythmically. Slowly at first and lation is a heaped then followed by a quickening, it reflected Lim’s own mass of shards of — breathing. Soon, however the trythmic lighting was baked white clay set affected according to the cacophony of the on-looking on toa circular base audience's expectant breaths. Heaving constantly, with a white umbili- the expunged air bellowed behind closed doors for cal chord. Shards the viewers’ own protection. Within an instant, Just of ceramic-scatter abound, postdrop- Left: just Darma (Before). ping. Thus began the Bolow: Just Darma (Detail, Before life ‘of Just Dharma A ~ as on instateon Ql organized by and of incidence. Lim's Just Dharma was initially com. prised of 1,200 indi- vidually handmade white translucent porcelain —_lotuses suspended from the ceiling by threads and electrical cords. Fach part, pinched individually in to petals which were lengthened, shows minute details and evidence of the art- ists hand pulling and stretching. the clay. Dictated by gravity as much as spatial considera- tions, its shape and form was unlike a Ss: INTO A MILLION PIECES, AN ACCIDENT THAT Baroque chandelier. It was long and tangled, meas- 12. Ceramics: an and Peresption No. 79 2010Dharma was released from its anchor. The work thus, performed. Upon its destruction, roar of applause and relief was audible. Just Dharma’ purpose was to testify to Lim's pres- ence at the 52nd Venice Biennale, The brternational Art Exhibition which marks Singapore's fourth sequential presence at the Venice Bienrale, Italy. As a national representative, Lim was one of four male artists selected by curator Lindy Poh. The exhibition was framed by the overall theme of Figments, Fictions and Fantasies and the pavilion included Tang Da Wu (b. 1943) with Zai Tang, Vincent Leow (b. 1961) and Zulkifle Mahmod (b. 1975). Lim’s contribution to the national pavilion was two-fold. Just Dhara and her sibling installation, Light Weight were site-specific installations housed. at Palazzo Cavalli ranchetti, Venice and were on exhibit till 7 Novemzer 20072. These works extended Lim’s use of clay asa visual idiom, which is symbi: otically parallel to his other visual art productions, especially his performances Specifically conceived as sculptural responses to the weight and seale of the Venice Biennale, an his torical site, an idealised target, a reality, an important international survey; more importantly, Just Dharma and Light Weigit, responded to the intricacies of the exhibition space; the palazzo rooms. Undeniably opulent and irreverently futile to deny or refute, the rooms are overbearing, The walls are of vivid crim- son red, clear brillant Murano glass chandeliers hung from the ceilirg. The room's rich smell, its sig- nificance in its own histories and geography, its echo and emptiness (these all intersect with an ideologi: cal place clay has within Lim’s visual art practise) are a stark contrast to the white walls and are apt, responses to the site as organic extensions of his clay and ceramics addiction. ‘The painstakingly long process of creating Just Dharma, or its beauty, is circumvented in favour of a collapsed structure. The installation was contrasted against four LCD video panels placed at North, South, East and West. They recount that eventful moment. The installation thus becomes a constant dialogue between a ‘remnant’ or ‘relic’ or even a ‘vestel’ and what con- stitutes a performarce. While reveal- ing its own making and unmaking within that instant, interjecting between the clanging sounds of ceramics falling and smashing, Lim chose to switch his place with Just Dharma as THE performer. Clay is functioning more than mere material to be moulded into a beautiful form by the ceramist’s hands, Performance and clay are Lim’s bedfellows in art. Continually inventive and remark- ably sensitive to clay, Lim’s works are at the fore front of both contemporary visual and ceramic art in Singapore and abroad. His relationship to clay has been long and fruitful.” Trained at Central Saint Martin, London¢ his constant dialogue with clay has. expanded beyond sculptural objects or artefacts of individualistic artistic preservation and beauty, but as he delves deeper into the malleability of form, structure, representation, display, significance and. the discourse of visual politics of his performances, and ceramics, Lim is undoubtedly one of the influen- tial artists in Singapore. Deemed as a maverick, Lim is sharp and is a pleasure to cha: with about art, lay and his views on life or to share a pint with, Perhaps that is why he, along with the other three artists, has contributed much to the development of contempo- rary art in Singapore ‘This influence is partly precipitated by his sym- biotic paralleling of clay and performance and his involvement in many projects, ltemative art spaces, and independent organizations. Clay is integral to Lim. It is a tool for transferrirg discoveries made when handling clay’: the repe:tious actions often executed in minute and omate detail is said by Lim to reveal the inconsistencies and contradictions of the processes itself. The signification of gestures within Lim’s visual art performances functions in the same ‘manner: small gestures repeated over and over again are intensely visceral and at times confrontational. In another room in the pavilion is Light Weight, a brazen and calculated riposte to a challenge by Lim and is totally distinct from Just Dharma, Four hundred clay figurines are arranged on the Just Darma (After). ‘Ceramics: Antand Perception No. 792010 13floor. Light Weight is a mesh of figurines assembled from an array of shapes and sizes. They refer to many cultural icons that abound in Singapore; Chinese deities, mythic and symbolic icons, figures within Christianity and others. Notwithstanding, they are also profanely mundane objects, accrued by default of their materiality - clay and their failings from a local figurine producing factory. Damaged in an instant, either cracked or chipped, these clay objects are abandoned and are left to weather in time Lim has been collecting some of these figurines for over a decade and had them shipped to Venice. Transposing kitschy cultural iconography into the context of Venice; a place densely populated by churches and saints, perhaps becomes a gesture cultural infiltration and is showeasing an idea - col- lecting clay mementoes or objects. However, Light Weight is conversant with an iconic interior fixture in Venice; the Murano chandelier. They are polarities in situ The entire installation sits on a tier in a large flo- ral shape. Like a mount, its octopus tentacle petals. extend outward. It reaches well beyond the eanopy of the light that the large chandelier casts. Laid against the arrangements are bunga marggar (tin- sel paper palm blossoms) which normally adorn the gates at Malay weddings or the bridal couple's arrival, invokes an opulence found walking on the stteets of Little India in Singapore; visions of exces- sive glorification or similarly in the clutter in many 14 Ceramics: At and Perception No. 78 2010 Last Drop. Santiago, Chile Jong gone antique stores, Mluminations utilised project long and harsh shadows of the figurines onto the red walls, thus enveloping the room with dense silhouettes much like these found in shadow puppetry shows, These ready-made clay figurines/ objects are hand selected by Lim, being an important element and material in the installation. Lim has utilised various visual mechanisms such as kitsch, contrast, light as inherent elements of both and highlights an antique store or junk mass aes- thetic, to subvert and conquer the space by laying, and orienting the clay figurines, colourful tinsel and. elongating shadows in contrast to the operational mechanisms of Just Dharma, Bota, however, consider the value and place of clay in Lim’s practise as being, didactic to his understanding, analysis and thoughts on contemporary visual arts and culture. Light Weight and Just Dharra play on subtleties of language as well, not intended as puns. Rather they operate at revealing contradictions much akin to his private language within ceramics. Is Dharma just? And does ‘lightweight’ denote or connote the weightlessness of light? In many of his works, the inconsistency of clay is revealed through minute and inherent varia- tions within the repetitions. This is further reactive as water, temperature, drying rate and firing are all contributing variants that have some impact on the form or textures or colours of the final work. For instance, the lotus flowers buckle or blossom whilefiring.” The clay records and crystallizes itself, par- ticularly bearing in mind the use of porcelain and its behaviours. What parallels could be drawn asa sym- biotic relationship to performance? And how does, Lim extend the use of clay? I propose to distill Lim’s Venice installations via these 4 parallels; Durational - Sta Activation ~ De-artivation Animate ~ In-animate, Performativity ~ Objectivity Durational ~ Static: Time is a factor. The lengthy duration of preparation and execution of a ceramic work sas crucial as tre planning, careful consideration of a performance and how it unfolds in time. The word ‘instant’ connotes a jarring treatment towards making time visible and tangible, as presented by the gestural markings found on the objects that Lim produces. The marks move in and with time thus encrusting itself onto the object or, as in Light Weight, is affected by time. Meanwhile Just Dharma, however, is adharma’ to this. Being released in an instant, its destructive force compels us to adciress its ‘catharsis-making’ as relational to the construction methods and time suggested within ceramics. It is a gesture that pro- nounces clay's materiality and fragility by erasing its structure, form and intricate details and preferring, its incidental remnant Lim’s performances unveil chrough time. They are durational experiences and must be experienced in their totality and, if possible, within. physical proximity ‘Thus, reflecting wpon Just Dharma: a ‘static’ jt dé art assumption is undermined and replaced with action as the performer performs through time. The performance ends with the object’s reincarnation and juxtaposition with Light Weight which is a‘static” installation informed by time. Activation - Deactivation: The structural integ- rity of a performance is activated by significance and. context, differing from actions or gestures in daily life. Thus, when does and when could a performance actually begin and end? Does it begin when the clay iscutand kneaded; or when itisintroduced asa base material activated in an ‘art’ space?; Or does it begin when the artist begins pinching the clay alone in the stuclio?; Or arranging it on the floor? Or in that split second when Dharma began falling? Performance and its spaces are clearly delineated and validated Light Weight. (Ceramics: Anand Perception No. 79.2010 15by various entities, one of whom is the artist. Its intended suggestions (readings) and significance (reception) are often open to attack or embraced and produce further discourse. My own ramblings above questioning the grey areas when a perform- ance begins and ends are intended as a method to distinguish those spaces, context and time when Lim activates his beloved material into key component(s) within his performances from the dail Lim adheres to in his studio. The difference lies not with the boundaries of spaces or mere usage of clay but artistic intention, action and activation of clay into a criterion of the semblance of ceram- ics; for instance, three tonnes of clay* in 1994 at the Substation, Singapore and Just Dharma. Just Dhara was enlivened and activated by light. She breathed and fell into her reincarnation, Its order s governed by disorder and chance. It is static cur- rently, yet came into being from an action in time solitude Light Weight (Detail. 16 Ceramics: Ar and Perception No. 78 2010 and place as echoed by the videos. Lim pronounces an active area of engagement vis a vis his own ceramics, installation and performances. His assemblages or sculptures ‘grow’ as they take into account the viewer and the inter-determinate spaces of viewing and perception and leads them into a discussion on what is permissibly valuable in ceramics or art; imagination, thought, action and. guts. It is not the finality of the object but rather a process of active sensory or perceptual engagement. He thus passionately activates h s viewers and peers ‘The areas or proximities for his performances are often closed. They are intimate. He secks to acti- vate the audience through proximity amalgamated with ‘gestures’ and ‘actions’, which are drawn from and informed by the close hardling of a material, which is given life and form, Or when viewing Lim ceramics, the experiences are derived from shallow distance. That area of active engagement expands to include questioning the rarefied art object or ceram- ics and their place in contemporary Singapore art and valid methods to activate Cay as a viable mate- rial in contemporary visual art; while refusing to adhere to clay and, thus by default, ceramics into being tied to a singular craft tradition or discipline. Animate ~ Inanimate: Through the use of accretion of marks or pinches and the suggestion of time passing, Lim’s ceramics thwarts simple and functional vessels. Lim is suggesting that they are symbolic (as beakers or as assemblages or as sculpture) mani- festations of animation (of giving life to) through his own gestures and clay’s own revelation of its minute inconsistencies. Like bones of archae- ology, objects speak. The difference lies'in that Lim chooses to engage with the problematics of clay as craft tradition / discipline and offers an alternative. He animates the inanimate clay into visually codified objects pregnant with process and meanings. Fall, throw and drop are words that describe clay’s function within Lim's performances. They suggest clay’s animation through performing, sim- ple acts. Falling, throwing, dropping, slapping; the clay is rigid yet malle- able, held in the hand it becomes a tool and a material when released. It ries. The equation “for every force there is an equal reaction” applies to Lim’s performances, Thus giving life to clay extends beyond forming a shape or decding a texture butacknowledges its materiality and its state of being. Performativity ~ Objectivity: Many in contempo- rary sculpture took Michael Fried’s seminal book, Art and Objecthood, as reference to expand the visual, philosophical and methods of sculpture contrary to the modernists. If art history is to be considered as a chronological time line, the book spoke of Minimalism particularly. Since then, the expansion. and plethora of visual works that straddle the fine line distinguishing between what is a sculpture or an installation or a -rawing or a painting, are testi- monies that ‘objecthood’ or ‘objectivity’ produces an. affect which is subsumed into many practises within visual culture, especially installation and perform- ance art. Ithas also informed the viewers. ‘The thing or the art-work is standing or is giving reference on and about itself and is discussing itself in relation to its context, being and is inclusive of the viewer(s) being in the space with it, rather than pic- torial or symbolic significations, Lim’s Just Dharm and Light Weight are osmotic in ideology of both ‘objectivity’ and ‘performativ- /. Judith Butler describes. ‘performativity’ as that reiterative power of discourse to produce the phenomena thet it regulates and constrains.”” Meanwhile Lim has written that, "Occasionally, 1 would repetitively make shapes and gather found/ ready-made materiels as structures for them. Other times, I make parts and bits and pieces. Decisions are made in a way like prayers and mantras are used and everyday gestures are repeated. As a group, they can be interchanged or be built upon. The pieces are assembled in different ways each time they are dis- played. As my ideas are constantly shifting during, and after the work process, the identity of things, therefore, is also constantly changed, making layers of meanings.”", Lim creates a new language, vocabulary and dis- course within his practice; the knowledge gained through playing and working with clay, its meto- nymic affection on to himself and his faithful viewers. produces these ‘layers of meaning’ or phenomena. ‘This thetoric parallels his vast outputs and is fed into his performances and installations; as- mentioned carlier, repetition of gestures and actions. Here we observe a working method ~ visual lin- guistics that advances with time as Lim creates and. performs. The worss are recurring manifestations that re-create and maintain their own organic and systematic discourse; however, they apply objectiv- ity and acknowledge the viewer and the plenitude of meanings that proffers from them. Contrast Just Derma and Light Weight and it is this parallel betwee ‘objectivity’ and ‘performativ- ity’ that surfaces. Both are divergent and antithetical to the other in display, construction, material and in. their places in Lim’s practise as responses to a site. Both of the installations and the performance heighten the viewers’ awareness of how exciting it is that at this juncture the day and Lim are in Singapore" even though the work is miles away in Venice, Italy. ‘An ‘addiction’ refers to a dependency, a very strong habit or an obsession with something. I have chosen to-use ‘addiction’ rather than any other word, in order to give a sense of how involved Lim is with clay and ceramics. ‘Addiction’. is also in keeping, with Lim's faith and belief that true provocation bears fruit and or results. ‘Addiction’ implies stim- ulants or being stimulated. Lim’s addiction is clay. He pushes the boundaries, placing clay /ceramics as important and viable in contemporary visual cul- ture, He shows that clay has many possibilities with reference to many other visual disciplines. Through dissemination, he transfers the ‘addiction’ to the next person. I am addicted as I am under the influence and being stimulated. “L find it important to capture visual tendencies that could influence and stimulate the viewer’s per- ception and imagination... the clay picks up the emo- tions and the process of working transforms them.” (ason Lim excerpt from artist statement") 1. Visit http:/ /www.nac.goxsg /eve /evel.asp for the curatorial brief by Lindy Poh. 2. For details of exhibition, please visit itp: / /www.nae. govsg/eve/evell.asp, 3. Lim has extensively exhibited in the USA, the UK, Japan, Australia and elsewhere internationally 4. Lim was at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, UK in 1992 5. In conversation with the artist: Wednesday, 9 August, 007. 6. Dharma: The underlying order of nature and life, a fundamental Bucahist belie. 7-In conversation with the artist: Wednesday, 9 August, 2007. 8. Adharma ~ an antonym of Dhar 9, See Ed. Gunalan Nadarajan; Eugene Tan; Russll Storer, Jason Lim in Contemporary Artin Singapore, Institute of Contemporary Art, Singapore, 2077, pp 94-97. 10. Butler, Judith. Critically Queer in Identity; A Render Sage Publication, London. 2000 ‘1 http://www.crafteutre.ong/ tab Timl.htm, See also Exhibition Catalogue; Lim, Jason, Recent Works, Substation, Singapore, 202 12. Asentiment echoed by Business ines, Singapore in 2004, 13. hitp:/ J wwwecraftculture.org/tab/ tim htm. Ibid, Zulharl Adnan isan artist, art writer ard eurator base in Sings pore. He is currently Academic Staff with Republic Plytechnis (Ceramics: At and Perception No. 78.2010 17The Footfalls Echo in the Memory (Panel of Tites) Clementina van der Walt An Independent Review by Eugene Hén ILEMENTINA VAN DER WALT EXHIBITED, TO GREAT ( effect, at the renowned Kim Sacks Gallery in Johannesourg. The moment you walk through the kraal style gate, into this hallowed space, you are immersed ir. everything African. These objets iart are desirable irdigenous, rural and urban mas- ter pieces, carefully selected by the Grande Dame herself. Only a select few master crafts people are granted a window of opportunity to showcase their bodies of work in this prestigious gallery /shop. Van ier Walt’s work meets all of the qualities expected by the curator/owrer’s discerning eye. The studio based ceramic work of this exhibiting artist has an exhilarating vibrancy, mainly due to the use of com- plementary colours on a contrasting background; a 18 Coramies: art and Perception No. 79 2010 black coloured clay. It is her use of brightly coloured. under glaze colours that is so absorbing and typi- cally African. This has become an underlying feature of the work of one of South Africa’s most well known, ceramists. Van der Walt has made significant creative strides since her humble beginnings asa full-time ceramist in the 1980s down in the Cape in the beautiful sur- roundings of the wine estates in Paarl. Her latest work contrasts sharply with the production oriented, hand painted on-glaze tableware that laid the foun- dation for her local success, ‘The surface decoration was a combination of brightly coloured on-glaze colours featuring, black incised mythical motifs on industrial ware.Masks. Her latest work, however, is hand crafted, one-of-a kind ceramic wares, each a creative response to make work that is current ~ positioned between the crea- tive output of contemporary designers and crafts- people. Her beakers, vases, platters, flared bowls and composite ceramic tile statements (mounted on extruded plastic sheeting) are all made with the same creative intent. Reference is made to the work of Casimir Malevich and Russian Constructivism which featured geometric shapes with mathemati- cal intent and the Suprematism movement, in which art, first and foremost, was considered spiritual However van der Walt limits her reference to the ‘organisation’ of the surface development. ‘There are no dramatic creative shifts from last year's exhibition at the same venue, as one would perhaps expect. This is South Africa with only a few provinces, unlixe America, where a craftsper- son can have a travelling exhibition from one state to another, ensuring work that what had been sold would be replaced, with an extensive choice of gal- leries, prospective clients and collectors to ensure (buying) support. The creative life cycle of work could possibly be extended to five and maybe even. 10 years before the creative expression is exhausted and new directions are explored and manifested Herein lies the challenge for local ceramists, the market is small and there are only a few ceramic- focussed galleries and ceramic collectors are limited. in numbers. Hence the fact that van der Walt has reinvented herself, her lifestyle, especially her home, and more importantly her work, to ensure growth on all levels. Her quest for meaning in life and her work ensuresa vibrancy and intensity that permeates each and every creative output. Living in an ultra contem- porary loft in the Cape Town city bowl, with a spec- tacular view of Table Mountain, evokes a different creative response to living in the country and a home with a sea view. Her present work aplly dias inspization from the urban landscape with its cultural vibrancy and diversity. No wonder the artist uprooted a thriving, business 30 minutes outside of Cape Town (walks along the beach) and settled into a much smaller abode in the heart of the city. This is best reflected. in the ceramic portrait plates, some of the beak- ers and large composite ceramic tile statements The work alludes to an expressive function and ‘Ceramics: Artand Perception No. 792010 19Exhibition at Kim Sacks Gallery. evokes for this reviewer a very personal and often emotional response. They say the eyes are the win- dows to the sou; these portraits elicit the compas- sion within us, reflecting on the impoverished but not deprived members of our society. These images bring to mind the Marlene Dumas’ model series, Black Drawings (:991-92) and Chiorosis. The interna- tionally acclaimed South African born artist had this to say about her Black Drawing series: “I certainly didn't intend to turn these people's faces back into some kind of ethnic African warrior persona. What interested me was... what different people could and would read into them” (Bloom, 1999:24). Van der Walt’s portraits are consciously positioned ir the composite tile ceramic statements; some of the faces masking their true emotions, the female faces ema nating pathos ~ a look of resignation. Even during the most troublesome time of apartheid, the majority of South Africans had a sense of humour and African pride that no one person or event could take away. Itis this aspectof the work that imbues the ceremic wares with an African spirit, reinforced by the vibrant use of colour reminiscent of contemporary African textiles and artefacts set against the bright African sky and often arid landscape. One therefore hopes that the city buzz will extend the creative response a5 a manifestation of the creative juxtapositioning of these converging worlds. 20 Goramics: Art and Perception No. 78 2010 Plate. van der Walt makes utilitarian ware that adds ‘meaning to your home, embracing a decorative and expressive dimension to the work through colour and texture that elevates the mundane activities asso- ciated with domesticity, from a ritual to an experi nee, These handerafted ceramic products are centre pieces all the time and much more than a desirable alternative to whitewace that flood the market and in particular the shelves of all of our retail outlets Part of the exhibition was a display of monochro- matic ceramic wares, mainly white with glossy black decorative relief shapes and rims, the black slip also applied as a base colour to the entire interior or exterior of a select group of vessels. The work is dis- played against red ochre painted gallery walls, remi- niscent of the colour of the highveld soil. Black and. white African textiles, with a similar look and feel, adorn the gallery walls above the display; this rein- forces the expressed perception of the home grown nature of these wares. What sets it further epart from its whiteware coun- texparts is its tactile quality. The joy of making and the uniqueness of each product imbue the work with a life ofits own. No one product is exactly the same as another— yet they formassociations, groups of similar style, including scale and dimensions. These works transcends form follows function and reinforces a cra aesthetic firmly entrenched in the studio ceramic discourse. The fact that her work supercedes old style pottery in an ever chenging consumer approach to dinner ware and products, underscores van der Walt’s, ability to keep abreast with changing design s and the craft politics. She has done so at a time when most craftspeople are facing opposition, mainly from designers embracing a one-of-a-kind ware approach = the ‘neo sculpture’ expressive designer products that add value and meaning. They are utilising the services of local artisans and crafts people to realise their creative endeavours, very much in the vain of haute couture. The world is scaling down due to both the economic recession and globalisation. brands are facing serious opposition from designer/ makers who produce work rooted within nodes of “tesSquare Plates. authentic localised economies. There are a number of crafts people in South Africa that have adopted this approach and survived the demise of the studio potter. Some seek an alternative approach - they had to add meaning to add value by embracing a fine art expressive approach. Van der Walt has worked closely (sharing « studio for a limited period of time) with such master craftspeople, including South Africa's most recognised Ceramist, Hylton Nel. No doubt these shaved experiences, situated in rather remote places within the borders of South AFica, especially withir rural towns and villages, has left and enduring mark in the creative output of this pr0- lific master craftsperson Clementina van de> Walt’s products reflect the new luxury’ in that they reveal the qualities sought by the enlightened corsmer, mainly because they are proudly South Atrican and because they add meaning (value) to your home as expressed above. But even more imporiant is the fact that they will stand the test of time as future heirlooms. Eugene Hoi isa Senior Lechner, Ceramic Design, Department of Jewellery de Ceramics, FADA, University of Johannesburg, South Alva. eugenehtac 2a) Ceramics: At and Perception No. 782010 21Chad Curtis ” Retooling Technology; RSC eeNTe ailFacing page: Red Buck Deer (Detail). 2008. Glazed cercmic, ‘acrylic, atex paint, vod, milled foam and mixed meta. 22x 19 x52 in. ‘Above: Trailer Stack. 2008, Marker on painted pel. 16x 16 in SS THAN A CENTURY SINCE THEIR EMBRYONIC PEASE, computer-aided technologies have devel- Joped and proliferated to the point where one no longer invokes the stuff of science fiction when imagining the ertire realm of existence under sivay of a vast synthetic nervous system of circuitry and artificial brains. With the rapid advance toward this possibility in the contemporary world has come a certain cultural acceptance that did not obtain so readily in the past, when fears of the unknown con- jured menacing epparitions of a mechanized soxiety methodically converting human beings into what Nietzsche described as mere “material to hea: its great machines”. In contrast to this and other dark musings at the awn of the technological age, per- spectives today appear generally to embrace new technology as beneficial and desirable, despite what we know of its potential in warfare, espionage, envi- ronmental exploitation and the like. Where appre- hensions about technology persist, they have become somewhat more subtle, arising less from the threat of outright enslavement of humanity than from the possibility of intellectual devolution caused by teclutolugy’s promotion of ever more passive states of mind. In mary respects high technology seems to pave the road to blissful existence for the human race, but some sceptics wonder whether the price is a flagging of creativity. ‘Though Philadelphia sculptor Chad Curtis may be counted among these sceptics, he is no mere dissenter. His critique of technology has evolved entirely on the terms laid down by his object of inquiry. In assessing the contradictions inherert in computerized technology ~ its potential to realize all that the mind might conceive and, at the same tme, Drawing Machine. 2008. Studio view. its usurpation of the role of thought in creativ has himself become, quite literally, a technologist. At the outset of his career, his engagement of contempo- rary technology was limited to the act of producing, moulds from industrially manufactured objects or modifying his own objects to impart to them a sem- blance of industrial lineage. Eventually this. prac- tice, much as it proviced insight into the aesthetics, of mass production and the influence of technology over the manufactural ubjecl, proved insufficient to resolving his contradictory feelings toward the computerization and mechanization of the creative process. It was then that his work transformed, both physically and conceptually, and he embarked on what is arguably one of the most important projects, to be introduced to ceramic art in this first decade of the 2ist century. While Curtis's end products are sculptures (and drawings) generated partly by computer-aided machines, their significance is not merely a consequence of employing these machines, creatively but also and more importantly of creating, the machines themselves. The dlebate currently rages over whether come puterized technology such as image-processing, software inhibits the development of creative facul- ties or merely augments the artist's existing reper- toire of tools, but Curtis's practice neatly sidesteps this controversy by proposing an alternative to both positions, He has joined a small but growing number of contemporary artists who wish not to fell the technological beast ner simply to avail themselves of its established strengths but rather to penetrate to the core of its circuitry and wrest from it a pro- fusion of new species to serve unprecedented ends. By engaging in both the design of technology and. its use, by inventing Uwe tool as well as applying it, he leaves no doubt as to the creative origins of his art. These may be only intuitively grasped through the end products, which indeed reflect a detach- ‘ment and anonymity consonant with manufactured goods, but this surely defines the crux of his project a5 an inquiry into the possibility of creativ world dominated by computer-aided design and mass-manufacturing methods. By exercising inno- vative strategies in software and hardware design to produce personalized computer-driven milling, and drawing machines, Curtis evades the threat of Ceramics: At and Perception No. 78.2010 23random Seed (orange conifers). 2008. Glazed ceramic, acrylic, microcontroller, water, fan, LEDS and wood. 28.16 x68 in, succumbing to technologically induced passivity even as he allots technology a central role in pkysi cally carving or drawing the major components of his sculptures Curtis's foray into computer-aided technology began during his time as an assistant professor of ceramics at James Madison University. Purchasing a Dimension-brend 3D printer suitable for rapid prototyping in monochrome polymer, he explored the potential ofthis machine for sculptural applications but quickly grew frustrated with the shortcomings of its products. The opaque, lackluster surface qualities and the ridged patterrs resulting from the layering method employed by the printer rendered these objects unappealing in themselves and Curtis found himself paradoxically driven to make moulds of the proto- types for casting ceramic objects or, variably, to cover the plastic forms in rubber in order to impart colour to them and disguise their offending textures. “That removed all evidence of the process,” he observes, “and it put me beck exactly where I started. I was just using a found object and modifying it. I had access to that tool for almost two years and never really made anything significant with it.” On the other hand, as he experimented with the printer he found 24 Coramics: Art and Perception No, 79 2010 himself increasingly engrossed in the process that it employed, the programming it incorporated and. the mechanical components and systems responsible for its functioning. Ultimately the printer’s ability to generate prototypes became less intriguing than its potential to serve as itself a prototype for more complex tools through which to explore a dynamic of technology and creat Having indulged his curiosity since childhood by dismantling machines of all sorts and having, worked in the interim between his undergraduate and graduate study as an electronics technician for commercial fire and security alarm systems, Curtis, possessed some of the rudimentary knowledge of Circuitry necessary for producing his own versions, of computer-aided tools. The remainder of his exper- tise was acquired throagh ad hoc research and plain trial and error as he adapted open-source, Internet available plans to his own ends. Since 2007 - when. he accepted his current position as an assistant pro- fessor at The Tyler School of Act, Temple University ~ he has constructed from scratch two fully functional machines of different sizes, both capable of milling, or drawing to the specifications indicated by designs generated through CAD software. The larger ofthese tools is able to render its products in dimen- sions up to 24 by 36 inches. The leap in effective- ness that occurred between the first and second of these endeavours introduced a challenge that hehad not anticipated. “In the drawings I was producing | actually got to the point where the machine worked too well and eliminated the tension that I'm seeking between how one makes objects and the tools that ‘one uses,” he explains. “I'd ventured too far inte the realm of the machine and had to go back and reirtro- duce some of the unknowns, the variables, in o-der to maintain the balance.” This balance ~an equilibrium between highand Jow tech, physical engagement and technological remove, active innovation and passive employment is crucial to theconceptual focus of Curtis's project, which, despite the sheer enjoyment that he derives from tinkering with machinery, does not pussue process for its own sake or lose itself in a labyrinth of technical problem solving, As an artist, his primary concern has always been for the theoretical impli- cations of technclogy rather than its mere praciical applications. In this light one is perfectly justified in describing his artas primarily an inquiry into specific cultural phenomena spawned by the complete and inescapable integration of industry and technology into contemporary systems of thought and behav- jour. As such, his work not only touches on concerns relevant to the making of art but also, and more importantly, raises inevitable issues of ethics, espe- cially in matters conceming the effects of high tech- nology on the relationship between human bengs and the natural environment. The rapid progression of technology has shown few signs of slowing, nor do we seem to wish that it do so, but Curtis invekes the price tag for this perpetual development through implication of the imagery of his curiously artificial landscapes. These hints are far from obtrusive, how- ever, and one is unlikely to consider his work moral- izing, In fact, he generally seems at pains to avoid anything remotely didactic in tone. Nonetheless, his work engages ethical issues - not simply in the sense of right conduct but also as it encompasses the con- cept of the good life ~and implicitly invites his view- ces to do the same. ‘Typical of Curtis's recent work is the seulp- ture Cows, which situates two rather naturalistially formed though chromatically jolting orange and ‘green bovines in a curvaceous, bubblegum-pink 2as- ture, beneath which a two-tiered Plexiglas box con- tains liquid slip, illuminated lights and bright green flexible tubing that enters and exits like the conduits of a complex circulatory system. This odd configu- ration is set secarely upon a stand that has been custom-built from MDO (medium density overlay) plywood, an engineered product of laminated wood faced with resin-treated fibre. The effect conveyed by this striking sculpture is one of nature steril zed ~ pasteurized and coated in antiseptic anonymity Cows. 2008. Glazed ceramic, clay slip, acrylic, milled foam, epoxy, wood and mixed media, 15x 13 x 6 in ~ through the employnent of technologically engi- neered products, tobe sure, but also and more conse- quentially, the exercise of a technologically induced mindset that seeks ever more uniform, convenient, sanitary and predictable modes of organizing the world. “The piece started as an analysis ofthe system. of food production and how mechanized and indus- trial it has become,” Curtis recalls. “I have a great video advertisement for a milking system and I find it fascinating how that works as a beautiful synthesis, of cow and machine ~ though I don’t know whether the cow finds it beautiful. That’s something I'm trying, to sort out. On the one hand, I’m seduced by how effortlessly and fluidly the technology works; on the other, I'm concemed about how that distances us from the primary experience. I wonder whether this is really the best way to milk a cow.” ‘A similar ambivelence pervades Curtis's atti- tude toward the materials that he employs in his sculptures. He elected, for example, to coat the cows, which began as simple ceramic blanks purchased from a hobby shop, with vibrant glazes that despite their savoury candy-coated appearance contain the poisonous elements cadmium and lead - an irony on which he has reflected as an unresolved ethi- cal dilemma. Likewise, the pink pasture, seductive though its fleshy billows might be as forms, makes a Ceramics: At and Perception No. 782010 25Underpass. 2008. Marker’ ted panel, 1x 13 in, disturbingly artificial fodder for livestock. Produced from laminated two-inch-thick sheets of polystyrene: foam insulation board that Curtis calls “questionable in terms of its environmental impact’, the pasture is obviously synthetic. Moreover, it was produced not through the sculpting action of the artist's hand but rather through the mechanical motion of his CNC (computer numeric control) operated milling machine. The rolling biomorphism of the form, in other words, is ‘undamentally unlike that of mar ble torsos smoothed under the touch of traditional sculptors from Phidias to Rodin or clay figures made sleek beneath the fingers of conventional modelers from the obscurity of prehistory to the present. The physical detachment of much of Curtis's workis a deliberately cultivated attribute, not a defect to be overcome, and in this it distances itself from the vast majority of sculpture in the long history of that medium. Another recent work, Popup Camper with Tree, expands the presence of the polystyrene insulation board — and consequently the incursion of compu- ter-aided technology — from the horizontal into the vertical, as a pirk pine, reminiscent of a flattened, partially devoured serving of cotton candy, flamboyantly above a matching pink plateau. Parked serenely beside this saccharine bit of ersatz forest is a hot orange camper with its tented sides extended like arms flung outward in a ludicrously expansive gesture of deep respiration and implicit contentment to be so at one with nature, The irony is intenticnal, 26 Coramics: Art and Perception No, 79 2010 Drawing Machine (Detail). 2008. inspired by a camping trip that Curtis and his wife took to Rocky Mountain National Park a number of years ago. “Parked next to us was a 30 foot motor home with the air conditioner running all night,” he recalls. “It wasn’t just annoying, it seemed absurd that anyone would hop into this vehicle, drive who knows how far, then turn on the air conditioner, watch TV and heat their dinner in a microwave.” Comical as this picture is, Curtis’s portrayal of it sounds an ominous note. Beneath the pink campsite, under a Plexiglas-enclosed, insulating pocket of ait, lies a layer of gray liquid slip: implicitly a trace of unblemished nature. Even here, however, technol- ogy intrudes in the form of a system of tubing, evi- denced only by the dual rubber plugs that stop it up, that runs through the liquid like a sewer system or a network of buried cable. The pathos of isolation from the landscape even as one seeks to merge with it ~ a distancing from nature and, implicitly, direct experience, despite the desire to grasp it - carries over to another work, Red Buck Deer, in which Curtis has again incorporated a monochrome glazed kobby-shop ceramic blank as the central figural element. Here a glistening, candy- apple-red deer reposes watchfully on a Plexiglas box containing a relief landscape that appears more topographically naturalistic than in earlier works, though it too was milled from insulation board through computer-aided technology. The hapless deer, estranged from nature by its gaudy coat as much as the transparent barrier on which it lies,Popup Camper with Tree (Detail). 2008. Glazed ceremie, clay slip, acrylic, led foam, epoxy, wood and mixed media 32x 18x45 in seems to hover ebove the hermetically sealed land, Ils predicament is rendered more poignant still by the stand on which both deer and boxed nature rest: a stacked configuration of MDO plywood strips held together only by the force of gravity. Accompanying this vulnerable construction of nature is a walle mounted, green board on which a loose drawing of a deer in a meadow seems to hint at a pristine realm, a true nature, soneplace faraway that is capable of being experienced directly and then represented in intimately personal language through the rapid flitting of a pen. This dream of unmediated nature however, prover false. The drawing, a composite ‘of various digital photographs that Curtis simply encountered on the Intemet, was rendered no: by the artist's hand out rather through the motions of a computer-aided machine. If not for the irresistibly alluring properties of the bright and glossy glazes, the flawless polished Plexiglas and the curvaceous, tactiely inviting forms, ‘one might suspect Curtis of launching an attack, steeped in pessimism and feelings of alienation, 07 all of technology and its products. The truth, of course, js at once more subtle and more interesting. I> he evinces uneasiness over the potential of technology to empty experience of its directness and to change the mode of human interaction with the world from exercise of innovetive intellect to passivity in the arms of a thoroughly computerized and mechanized strro- gate imagination, he neither rages against the macrine nor suggests that revolt from technology is desirable ‘or even possible. “lis approach, at once more reascned and more optimistic, is to seek the means of confirming the human potential for creativity within the possibili- ties that technology offers by grasping that very tech- nology and forging from it not a technology to make art but a technology as art. While acknowledging the inescapability of high-tech influence, both in the realm of art and that of everyday life, he suggests the poss Dility of regaining the impressions of direct experience that might once more instil in us feelings of connection to and therefore responsibility toward nature, con- ceived in its broadest sense. He calls, in effect, for Lookout Rabbit. 2008. Glazed earthenzoare, milled foam, acrylic, sphagnum moss, ltex paint and wood. 28x 18.247 in an artistic seizure of the means of production and. a creative retooling of these means to place them in the service of personal ends The physical prnduicts of these personalized technological means may well appear impersonal (aad unlike art) but since the 19605 our conception has expanded sufficiently to recognize art’s adherence in process and not sim- ply in objects. Curtis’s process, his art as process, is ultimately an assertion that artis still possible = and, just as importantly, useful and desirable ~ in an age when high technology seems to pervade every aspect of experience, even what is left of nature, and relieve us of so many facets of our creative and. intellectual lives. Glen Brown sa Professor af Art History at Kansas State Univer sity in Manhattan, Kansas, US CCoramics: At and Perception No. 782010 27Miracle Adil Writer Article by Anahite Contractor butterfly, “Ifyou leave a dream untouched for too long, it tums sour like yesterday’ milk.” The but- terfiy fluttered its newly-grown wings and repiied, “Ohno, it does not. A dream, in fact, is the only tan- gible truth which we possess. If you were to leave a dream by your window, the purple winds outside will fan it to life. f you were to float itin a tiny paper boat, the gurgling river will wash it clean. If you were to bury your dream thinking you can muffle it, you will Soon see that it has sprouted tiny green wings through the moist furrows of the earth and will some day grow up into a mighty oak. And if, Mr. Walrus, you burn your dream in the roaring fire, it will flare up in flames redblueyellow, it will singe anything that comes in its way and eventually, itwill reveal to you that in life, all that remains ‘unsseey’ is not unreal. Who knows, a creepy-crawly creature, a miserable worm with a black belly as its body, might one day transmogrify into a magnificent waif like myself.” And so saying, the butterfly spread its glo- rious wings, took flight and became one with the sky above. A miracle Lateral relationships between a. thought-process and its manifestation in a given medium give birth to squiggles, scraw’s, doodles, sketches and occasion- ally, a complete work of art. Adil Writer, an arch tect by training, has chosen to work as.a fine artist in an I: [UNCERTAIN TIES, ONCE, A PECULIAR WALRUS SAIDTO A Architects of Immortality, Gos fred stoneware. 19 ink 30 Coramics: Art and Perception No, 79 2010 aesthetic which might be described as both techni- cally astute as well as intuitive and seamless. These works are so varied in theme, content, form and medium that one would be led to believe that this, in fact, is a group exhibition, not a solo. The paintings are expressionistic outbursts of one who has tackled the architectonics of space and spatial contradictions. Although they are abstract in their language, Writer’s canvases create a distinct com- of brush-strokes, palette and a somewhat oneiric postulation. The paintings seem to leap out of their framed faces; they scem to seek perdition and. are restless in their impassioned, albeit restricted, two-dimensional state And when the third dimen- sion is reached, Writer's exploration with ceramics knows no bounds. Qu rky, regular, traditional and iconoclastic forms are all simultaneous and eager to be noticed like a child's incoherent but enchanting, banter. The unabated flow of formal constructions and the experimentation with themes ~ whether it is iconic like the ceramic pillar rocks or hands, or is wonderfully poetic like the dream pillows ~ is all Adil Writer’s manner of portraying his nascent dreams in tangible forms. To quote Friedrich Nietzsche, “The innermost essence of Being is wil. to power. In the being of the artist, we encountered the most perspicuous and most familiar mode of will to power. Since itis a matter of Black Crackle Vase. Anagama fred. 13 ini,