21st Century and Contemporary Ceramics

A porcelain sculpture by Wayne Fischer. Perfect original conditions. Signed. Unique piece. 2022. How can an inert object produce deeply unsuspecting, indecipherable, uncontrol...

A porcelain sculpture by Wayne Fischer. Perfect original conditions. Signed. Unique piece. 2015. How can an inert object produce deeply unsuspecting, indecipherable, uncontrollable emotions? Wayne Fischer is an artist who can create works that force one to ask such moving questions as this. If he doesn’t know why, if he can’t explain the deepest reasons of his artistic research, he definitely knows the workings and limitations of the artistic process he invented. He has never deviated from the course he set for himself since university; translate life. The works presented here show the evolution of his creations over the past thirty years. If Wayne Fischer has received several international prizes and quickly obtained the recognition of his peers in ceramics, nevertheless he retains a singular position at once unavoidable and disturbing. His sculptures are paradoxical, powerful and sensual, and cause a certain unease. They are beautiful, carnal, touchable, all the while being outside the standard idea of beauty. The ambiguity of attraction and rejection is at the heart of this evolution. The pieces from the 1980s and 90s are imposing by their size, stature and symmetry, which give them balance. They generate surprise, curiosity and play between contrasts that are both soft and aggressive. They reference the body, muscles, and torso, without presenting an exact reality. They are double-faced, seductive, and enigmatic. Wayne’s shapes are inspired by shells, bivalves, sometimes presented as though they are floating in space. But the reference of the marine world to the mysterious female body has only one interpretation and only history and emotion condition the reaction of the spectator: he accepts or refuses to see, to be seduced. He is touched or he flees. The more recent sculptures are appreciated in the fullness of their round volume and the search for a pure universal beauty. “Metamorphosis,” the work recently awarded by the Bettencourt Foundation, is from this series of pieces wheel- thrown and deformed which pushes the porcelain from the inside so the bulges evoke the movement of waves or the musculature of several bodies. The exactness, the clean breaks, the assurance of lines and valleys are testimony to the interior power that governs the creation. The life energy expressed is also felt by the artist as the origin of ceramics. All the pieces are curved and tense. They show no marking, no sign of the hand, no imprints, and yet give an impression of spontaneity, as if a dropped piece of clay found its form by chance. Depending on the angles, the content becomes “the origins of the world...

A porcelain sculpture by Wayne Fischer. Perfect original conditions. Signed. Unique piece. 2022. How can an inert object produce deeply unsuspecting, indecipherable, uncontrollable emotions? Wayne Fischer is an artist who can create works that force one to ask such moving questions as this. If he doesn’t know why, if he can’t explain the deepest reasons of his artistic research, he definitely knows the workings and limitations of the artistic process he invented. He has never deviated from the course he set for himself since university; translate life. The works presented here show the evolution of his creations over the past thirty years. If Wayne Fischer has received several international prizes and quickly obtained the recognition of his peers in ceramics, nevertheless he retains a singular position at once unavoidable and disturbing. His sculptures are paradoxical, powerful and sensual, and cause a certain unease. They are beautiful, carnal, touchable, all the while being outside the standard idea of beauty. The ambiguity of attraction and rejection is at the heart of this evolution. The pieces from the 1980s and 90s are imposing by their size, stature and symmetry, which give them balance. They generate surprise, curiosity and play between contrasts that are both soft and aggressive. They reference the body, muscles, and torso, without presenting an exact reality. They are double-faced, seductive, and enigmatic. Wayne’s shapes are inspired by shells, bivalves, sometimes presented as though they are floating in space. But the reference of the marine world to the mysterious female body has only one interpretation and only history and emotion condition the reaction of the spectator: he accepts or refuses to see, to be seduced. He is touched or he flees. The more recent sculptures are appreciated in the fullness of their round volume and the search for a pure universal beauty. “Metamorphosis,” the work recently awarded by the Bettencourt Foundation, is from this series of pieces wheel- thrown and deformed which pushes the porcelain from the inside so the bulges evoke the movement of waves or the musculature of several bodies. The exactness, the clean breaks, the assurance of lines and valleys are testimony to the interior power that governs the creation. The life energy expressed is also felt by the artist as the origin of ceramics. All the pieces are curved and tense. They show no marking, no sign of the hand, no imprints, and yet give an impression of spontaneity, as if a dropped piece of clay found its form by chance. Depending on the angles, the content becomes “the origins of the world...

A porcelain sculpture by Wayne Fischer. Perfect original conditions. Signed. Unique piece. 2022. How can an inert object produce deeply unsuspecting, indecipherable, uncontrollable emotions? Wayne Fischer is an artist who can create works that force one to ask such moving questions as this. If he doesn’t know why, if he can’t explain the deepest reasons of his artistic research, he definitely knows the workings and limitations of the artistic process he invented. He has never deviated from the course he set for himself since university; translate life. The works presented here show the evolution of his creations over the past thirty years. If Wayne Fischer has received several international prizes and quickly obtained the recognition of his peers in ceramics, nevertheless he retains a singular position at once unavoidable and disturbing. His sculptures are paradoxical, powerful and sensual, and cause a certain unease. They are beautiful, carnal, touchable, all the while being outside the standard idea of beauty. The ambiguity of attraction and rejection is at the heart of this evolution. The pieces from the 1980s and 90s are imposing by their size, stature and symmetry, which give them balance. They generate surprise, curiosity and play between contrasts that are both soft and aggressive. They reference the body, muscles, and torso, without presenting an exact reality. They are double-faced, seductive, and enigmatic. Wayne’s shapes are inspired by shells, bivalves, sometimes presented as though they are floating in space. But the reference of the marine world to the mysterious female body has only one interpretation and only history and emotion condition the reaction of the spectator: he accepts or refuses to see, to be seduced. He is touched or he flees. The more recent sculptures are appreciated in the fullness of their round volume and the search for a pure universal beauty. “Metamorphosis,” the work recently awarded by the Bettencourt Foundation, is from this series of pieces wheel- thrown and deformed which pushes the porcelain from the inside so the bulges evoke the movement of waves or the musculature of several bodies. The exactness, the clean breaks, the assurance of lines and valleys are testimony to the interior power that governs the creation. The life energy expressed is also felt by the artist as the origin of ceramics. All the pieces are curved and tense. They show no marking, no sign of the hand, no imprints, and yet give an impression of spontaneity, as if a dropped piece of clay found its form by chance. Depending on the angles, the content becomes “the origins of the world...

A porcelain sculpture by Wayne Fischer. Perfect original conditions. Signed. Unique piece. 2022. How can an inert object produce deeply unsuspecting, indecipherable, uncontrollable emotions? Wayne Fischer is an artist who can create works that force one to ask such moving questions as this. If he doesn’t know why, if he can’t explain the deepest reasons of his artistic research, he definitely knows the workings and limitations of the artistic process he invented. He has never deviated from the course he set for himself since university; translate life. The works presented here show the evolution of his creations over the past thirty years. If Wayne Fischer has received several international prizes and quickly obtained the recognition of his peers in ceramics, nevertheless he retains a singular position at once unavoidable and disturbing. His sculptures are paradoxical, powerful and sensual, and cause a certain unease. They are beautiful, carnal, touchable, all the while being outside the standard idea of beauty. The ambiguity of attraction and rejection is at the heart of this evolution. The pieces from the 1980s and 90s are imposing by their size, stature and symmetry, which give them balance. They generate surprise, curiosity and play between contrasts that are both soft and aggressive. They reference the body, muscles, and torso, without presenting an exact reality. They are double-faced, seductive, and enigmatic. Wayne’s shapes are inspired by shells, bivalves, sometimes presented as though they are floating in space. But the reference of the marine world to the mysterious female body has only one interpretation and only history and emotion condition the reaction of the spectator: he accepts or refuses to see, to be seduced. He is touched or he flees. The more recent sculptures are appreciated in the fullness of their round volume and the search for a pure universal beauty. “Metamorphosis,” the work recently awarded by the Bettencourt Foundation, is from this series of pieces wheel- thrown and deformed which pushes the porcelain from the inside so the bulges evoke the movement of waves or the musculature of several bodies. The exactness, the clean breaks, the assurance of lines and valleys are testimony to the interior power that governs the creation. The life energy expressed is also felt by the artist as the origin of ceramics. All the pieces are curved and tense. They show no marking, no sign of the hand, no imprints, and yet give an impression of spontaneity, as if a dropped piece of clay found its form by chance. Depending on the angles, the content becomes “the origins of the world”. Femininity and sensuality are exalted. Inspired by the body, before and after birth, or simply the sea, the parts of the sculpture conjugate around a mysterious interior cavity, secret and troubling. The interior wall doesn’t correspond to the exterior, and has its own volumes, deformities, and intimacy. The pieces present two kinds of interior: one open, and partially uncovered, the other totally hidden inside. The differences of their respective deformation reinforce the impression of life : the subjective representation of muscles and bones, of bulges pushed by an interior force, like a visceral movement of respiration. The surface of the ceramic is crackled but soft and fine, even reflecting light like the skin. The nuances of color reinforce the expression of sensuality. The alignment of technique and what it causes one to see and feel has rarely been so intimately successful. Wayne Fischer perfected his technique in the 1970s and has remained faithful to it. He adds fibers to porcelain clay that has been chosen for its whiteness to create and accentuate volume around empty space, by assembling slabs or thrown pieces. Then, he makes another piece that takes its place inside; both parts are formed with no hand...

A very fine stoneware cup decorated in experimental glazes by renowned ceramic artist Eric James Mellon (British, 1925-2014) and dated 2006. Trained at the Central School of Arts and...

A stylish British studio pottery vase painted with nude figures by renowned potter Eric James Mellon (1925-2014) and dating from around 2000. The vase is of cylindrical shape and pot...

A wonderful example of Otto Heino's famous Chinese Imperial yellow glaze - thought to have been lost for years and rediscovered by Heino. A very rare and highly coveted glaze and textured shape. Sure to brings years of aesthetic pleasure. This piece has a great feel and heft to it. A fantastic work by all accounts. Signed and dated (2002) by Heino on the base. Would make for a fantastic addition to any modern ceramics and pottery collection or an eye-catching Stand-alone work in about any setting.  Otto and his wife Vivika worked in ceramics side by side for many years until her passing. The couple is winners of the following awards: Gold Medal from the sixth Biennale internationale de céramique d'art, in Vallauris, France, (1978). Silver medal from the International Ceramics Exhibitions in Ostend, Belgium, (1959) Their work can be found in the following collections: American Craft Museum, New York City, NY County Art Museum and Craft Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA Picasso Museum in Vallauris, France Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Craft & Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles Mingei Museum, San Diego Ventura County...

Holly Curcio is a ceramics artist from Massachusetts. She earned her MFA in ceramics from Arizona State University and her BFA in ceramics from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Curcio's abstract 'cloud' form whimsically plays with subtle color, texture and shape and was part of her solo exhibition "Suspending Disbelief," at Harry Wood...

These splendid ceramic creations are born from the artistic laboratory of Mosche Bianche. In this casket you can keep small objects of value, born as the materialization (and unive...

Francesco Raimondi, Poseidon Grotesque plate, glazed earthenware 60cm diameter - hand painted, unique piece Francesco Raimondi was born in 1959 in Vietri sul Mare on the Amalfi coast, where he currently lives and works. A decorative artist by vocation, from his adolescence he trained at the major ceramic’s factories in the area. Raimondi represents one of the most significant contemporary expression of Southern Italy Majolica tradition: he is an exquisite decorator transferring traditional propitiatory grotesque themes into a contemporary fresh and innovative interpretation. From the late 1990s Francesco Raimondi has taken part in numerous exhibitions at regional, national, and international level. His solo shows include “Contemporary Mediterranean” at Palazzo Sant’Agostino and at the Temple of Pomona in Salerno and “Raimondesche” a large retrospective of his work hosted at MIC - Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza, the museum with the largest ceramics collection in the world. In 2006, part of the Regione Campania pavilion, Raimondi won the Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, awarded by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2016 he was assigned the title “Master of Arts and Crafts” by the Cologni Foundation at Milan Triennale and was included in the Golden Book of Italy’s Crafts Excellence. In 2018 he was granted the title of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy...

These splendid ceramic creations are born from the artistic laboratory of Mosche Bianche. The piggy bank, a means that has always been used to remind us of the importance of savi...

"As a Mexican and Oaxacan, but more as Omar, I see death as something present. It´s something that is a part of life and when you think about death, you begin to value a lot of things. Death is important to me because it’s a constant threat. If you think about dying now, you would probably do things that in another moment you would say, “I’ll do it later.” I see death as an opportunity to live a better life...a continuation of something," says Mexican ceramist Omar Hernández. Omar Hernandez is a Mexican ceramist born and raised in Oaxaca, Mexico. As a child, growing up in a family of potters he didn't have much interest in making pottery, but in his early 20's he realized he could do other things with clay that weren't necessarily utilitarian pieces. It was then that Omar started his skull...

In Bassano ceramics have been produced for 300 years. In fact, from the 17th century this art has been developed in Veneto thanks to the presence of plastic clay, solder and kaolin i...

VG presents a collection of classic sculptures which revisits the techniques of pop art. The original work is taken apart; a few details are then removed and highlighted, becoming t...

The “Andy” ceramic collection VG presents a collection of Classic sculptures which revisits the techniques of pop art. The original work is taken apart; a few details are then remove...