past exhibitions

Confrontational Clay: The Artist as Social Critic

January 18, 2001 - March 16, 2001

The works presented in Confrontational Clay are a radical departure from the traditional history of ceramics, in which objects tended to reflect, rather than subvert, cultural norms. One only has to picture a gilded Sevres teapot to see how ceramic art of the past tended to support established social and political structures - and those who dictated them. Form and function were king; satire and social commentary were practically unknown.

World War II changed everything. In the second half of the 20th, century genocide, nuclear war, rampant materialism, and radical politics caused artists, especially in clay, to embrace issues and content in their work as never before. The spontaneity of modern jazz and the emotional force of Abstract Expressionism provided new inspiration and innovative working methods for ceramic artists. No one illustrated the raw confrontation between materials and emotion better than Peter Voulkos. His poking, slashing, and tearing into clay redefined the vessel form, and with it, some fundamental principals of ceramic art.

The 60's and 70's saw the rise of a truly American confrontational style in clay. The civil rights and feminist movements, mind-altering drugs, and anti-war protests were all catalytic factors. Howard Kottler's American Supperware Series uses store-bought plates and commercially available decals to show us the image of a fragmented American Flag - a country divided by the Vietnam War.

Ceramic artists approached the last decades of the 20th century with apocalyptic zeal. Images of nuclear horror, capitalist giants, unapologetic sexuality, and glorified violence forced the viewer to confront a visual distillation of modern life. Robert Arneson shows us a gruesome image of nuclear war in the form of a decaying head, while Sergei Isupov soothes the eye with graceful lines only to jolt the viewer with his dreamlike psychosexual imagery. Their methods are various - irony, parody, mystery - yet the objects are unified by a desire to reach out and involve each of us in the struggle for awareness. "The artists represented in this exhibition have produced a body of work that calls attention to and confronts issues that constitute a vital part of our lives. They question, joust, harass, and attempt to use their art to force us to confront reality in ways that are idiosyncratic and often disturbing." says Judith Schwartz, Guest Curator of the exhibition.

Confrontational Clay: The Artist as Social Critic was curated by Judith Schwartz, Ph.D., and toured by ExhibitsUSA with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Dr. Schwartz is Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University. She has published articles in both national and international journals including American Craft, American Ceramics, Studio Potter, and Ceramics Monthly.
Sergei Isupov, Mist, 1998
Photo: Courtesy of the Ferrin Gallery

Peter Gourfain, Crawdaddy, 1990
Photo: Peter Gourfain

Joseph Seigenthaler, Man with Switch, 1996

John deFazio, Dada Throne, 1994
Photo: John deFazio