Incollect Magazine - Issue 3

Issue 3 92 www.incollect.com M ud is one of the oldest human art materials — we have been making things in clay for thousands of years, initially as containers and votive objects and gradually, with increasing sophistication, for decorative or ornamental rather than strictly utilitarian uses. But in the late 19th century mavericks like the Post-Impressionist painter and sculptor Paul Gauguin in Europe, and George Ohr in rural America — sometimes referred to as “America’s First Art Potter” — began to see the potential of ceramics beyond decoration or ornament, as a mode of sculpture. Major visual artists of the 20th century, such as Pablo Picasso, worked extensively in ceramics and often in collectible series which helped further to promote ceramics as sculpture. It also spearheaded a breakdown in formal distinctions between visual art, craft and design and encouraged the appreciation of ceramic makers as artists. Today ceramic makers rarely concern themselves with category questions, and the work they make runs the gamut from abstract to figurative to installations. Ceramics is an established subject of art school curricula and contemporary artists working in ceramics belong to important commercial galleries and are represented in major museum collections. Collectors have begun to pay attention as well. Antoine Vignault from OAK Oneofakind Gallery has a passion for ceramics as sculpture and has watched this market evolve. “Over the past ten years, a certain push has been developing from art galleries and auction houses with dedicated shows and sales of ceramics. This enthusiasm is still limited, but you have to hurry because prices will go up — I see the openness and a growing interest on the part of contemporary art collectors and not only decorators.” Unique pieces of ceramic sculpture remain especially sought after by art collectors, Vignault says, especially those who know how to appreciate “both the know-how and the technique of the great ceramists” and what he describes as “the magic touch” of the artist, defined by him as “the vibration of the hand of the artist who tells the story of the piece and gives it its incomparable soul.” For Vignault there is something magical about the way in which mud, a prosaic material, can be transformed. OF MUD AND MAGIC The Allure of Contemporary Studio Ceramics by Benjamin Genocchio