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Claire Curneen (b. 1968)Claire Curneen’s iconic sculptures arepoignant contemplations on the liminal andprecarious nature of the human condition;exploring themes around death, rebirth andthe sublime. Universal and profound statesof fear, loss, suffering and sacrifice fusewith devotion, desire, wonder and mysteryto underlie each intricate, porcelain figure.Their translucent and fragile qualities offerpotent, metaphoric abstract narratives.Porcelain, terracotta and black stonewarecreate a grounded vulnerability to theseworks, with dribbles of glaze and flashes ofgold to embellish denoted sacred qualities.Claire Curneen was born in Tralee, Co.Kerry, Ireland in 1968 and currently livesand works in Wales, UK. Works have beenexhibited internationally and appear inmany notable public collections includingThe Crafts Council, London; ShipleyArGallery, Gateshead; National Museum& Gallery of Wales, Cardiff; Victoria andAlbert Museum, London; The FitzwilliamMuseum, Cambridge; Manchester City ArtGallery, Manchester; National Museum ofScotland, Edinburgh; Aberystwyth ArtsCentre, Aberystwyth, Wales; Cleveland CraftCentre, Middlesbrough; Oldham Art Galleryand Museum, Manchester; York City ArtGallery, York; Middlesbrough Institute ofModern Art, Middlesbrough; Crawford ArtGallery, Cork, Eire; Limerick City Galleryof Art, Limerick, Eire; Ulster Museum,Belfast, Northern Ireland; Benaki Museum,Athens, Greece; Clay Studio, Philadelphia,USA; Mint Museum of Craft + Design,Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; IcheonWorld Ceramic Centre, Gyeonggi-do, Korea;Taipei Ceramics Museum, Taiwan.‘The Martyr’porcelain, 30 x 27 x 26 cm53