Deco mag Spring '17 issue

ceramic art london 2017
31 March
to 2 April
Ceramic Art London
It’s the wheel of fortune because ceramics have
become every bit as collectible as paintings
Deco mag 20
Sophie Cook’s
vessels are
pure elegance.
Prices from £150
This image: Dark blue cylinder vessel by
Peter Beard, H10cm, £250 Left, above:
Uneathed Interiors Collection with Flowers
by Zevak Zargarian, from £45 each Left,
below: Large Ivory Concave Sculpture
by James Oughtibridge, £5,000
Ceramic Art London, now
in its 13th year, is unmissable
for anyone interested in
contemporary ceramic art.
And that’s a lot of us
because the collector instinct
is innate in human beings,
it would seem; and as
paintings have become
unfeasibly expensive for
most of us, so we’ve turned
our attention to the many
brilliant craft potters working
across the world whose
designs work is still,
mercifully, affordable - albeit
that’s a word that means
something different to
each of us.
So if you’re in the London
at the end of March, head to
Central St Martin’s where
you’ll see a huge variety of
work from some 90 top
ceramicists working in the
UK, on the Continent, South
Korea and Japan. You’ll meet
them and can buy direct
from them - why go
home empty-handed?
The fair sees the return of
renowned makers such as
Akiko Hirai, Sophie Cook
and James Hake, as well
as first-time exhibitors and
rising stars including Ben
Arnup, Rachel Wood, Silke
Decker, Mathew Horne and
Lauren Nauman.
Items on sale range from
contemporary twists on
functional tableware to
exquisite sculptural pieces
and experimental work that
pushes the boundaries of
this ancient craft.
With prices ranging from
£25 for a pretty tea cup by
Sue Pryke to £8,000 for an
original sculpture by Fenella
Elms, CAL does cater for
collectors of all budgets.
Key themes
While ceramics have
echoed the natural realm for
millennia, urban and industrial
textures make their mark too
this year, with Isobel Egan
and Fausto Salvi’s ceramic
cityscapes. Robert Cooper
takes inspiration from urban
decay, creating recycled
pieces with left-over glazes
and ancient pottery shards
found on the foreshore of
the river Thames.
Traditional craft mimics
virtual reality with Matt Davis’
‘pixelated’ porcelain tableware
and Ben Arnup’s 3-D
optical illusions. Ceramics’
potential for the playful and
even surreal is demonstrated
by Yun Wook Mun’s melting
Dali-esque forms.
The storytelling capacity
of ceramics is powerfully
demonstrated by Midori
Takaki’s eccentric folkloric
faces and Jenny Southam’s
animal and human figures
in landscapes. Raewyn
Harrison’s ‘Mudlarking’ and
‘Thames Estuary’ series of
slip cast, thrown and hand
built vessels use Elizabethan
illustrations and maps to tell
stories of London.
• CERAMIC ART
LONDON
• When: 31
March to
2 April.
Where:
Central St
Martin’s behind
London’s
King’s Cross
Station.
• Hours: 10-6 pm
and 10-5 pm on
the last day.
• Visit: ceramics.
org.uk
Deco mag 20