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Archived Exhibition

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Confrontational Clay: The Artist As Social Critic

Picture of a Porcelain Sculpture

Sergei Isupov, Protection, 1999, porcelain, 10 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches; courtesy Karen Johnson Boyd  

Irony, parody, introspection, violence, dream imagery, the grotesque—these are not the kind of images or devices that viewers expect to encounter when they go to see a ceramics exhibition.

Historically, ceramics exhibitions were devoted to the display of functional and decorative objects. The best of these were useful and pleasing; satire and social commentary were all but unheard of. What little satiric ceramic art was produced—in the form of humorous folk figurines—was of the very mildest sort and stayed well within the European pottery tradition.

World War II changed everything. Genocide, the threat of nuclear war, and radical shifts in society caused artists, especially in clay, to embrace issues and content in their work as never before. Post-War musical and artistic styles, especially modern jazz and Abstract Expressionism, exerted great influence on clay artist. No one illustrated the raw, confrontational aspects of clay better than Peter Voulkos. His poking, slashing, and tearing at the material recreated the vessel, and with it, the very assumptions of what ceramic art was all about.

Voulkos transformed pottery from a craft into an art. From the 1960s to the 1980s, a truly confrontational style in American ceramics developed. The cultural, sociological, and political changes that shook the country during that turbulent era are reflected in the work of Robert Arneson, Clayton Bailey, and Howard Kottler, among others.

Confrontational Clay: The Artist As Social Critic features 50 works by 27 artists, including some of the most illustrious names in the clay world. They employ a wide range of devices to convey their thoughts on a variety of important contemporary issues, like war, politics, gender, popular culture, consumerism, and the environment.

Among the artists whose work appears in this provocative and highly engaging exhibition are Wesley Anderegg, Robert Arneson, Les Lawrence, and Richard Notkin.

For viewers who think of pottery as a medium for pots, vases, and bowls, Confrontational Clay will be a revelation!

Exhibition Details

Exhibition content:
48 ceramic objects
BulletExhibition checklist (pdf)


Curator:
Judith Schwartz, Ph.D., Department of Art and Art Professions, New York University


Essayist:
Judith Schwartz, Ph.D.


Organized by:
ExhibitsUSA


BulletEducational materials

 


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