Welcome back to our Video segment, this week, we have a wonderful slew of videos from the Victoria and Albert Museum of British ceramist Richard Slee discussing several of his art pieces within the museum’s ceramics collection, many of which merge two seemingly divergent aesthetics. Later on, and it’s pretty cool, the ‘Grand Wizard of Studio Ceramics’ and pop-culture grand master Grayson Perry tackle Slee’s Sausage and Perry discusses his own takeaway of Slee.
Up first, we have a video of Slee sharing his thoughts on his Jar and Cover (1981). Slee explains he drew inspiration from the vibrantly colored modernist, industrially produced so-called ‘Refrigerator Ceramics,’ which took a step away from those characterizing the Victorian era, where each part of the form was differentiated into separate elements. In his Jar and Cover, Slee merged these styles. But don’t take it from me, Slee’s got it from here.
Furthermore, Slee’s Crown and Anvil (1988) is the manifestation of two very different themes or ideas. One being the Anvil as a physical representation of the Soviet Union’s dissolution and the Crown embodying socialism, worker strength and power, but as well as the romanticism and hysteria surrounding the Royal British family at the time.
Slee and Perry tackle Slee’s work Sausage (2006) in this 2009 video, which explores white male-ness, DIY culture and craft and the field’s evolution.
Slee and Perry take a look at Drunk Punch (1991), which they both draw, what they call, a very British scene. One of Slee’s first figurative works, Slee says its even slightly autobiograhpical.
Landscape and Hippo (1997):
The following is Perry’s insightful takeaway of Slee’s distinctive art through his art and his role in transitioning craft into the world of contemporary fine art and shaping the field.
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