Welcome to Spotted, our bi-weekly collection of our top favorites from the worlds of contemporary ceramic art and contemporary ceramics. We kick off this edition with a 3,000-year-old jug sporting a smiley face reminiscent of an ancient Kool-Aid Man. Oh Yeah!
Smiley Face Jug
Painted flask from 1700 BCE found in a burial under a house in area A East, Karkemish. Image courtesy Nicolò Marchetti
detail
Archaeologists in southern Turkey dug up this bulbous pitcher decorated with a faint smiley face, Hyperallergic writes.
“We have probably found the oldest smiley emoji. We do not know with which purpose the craftsmen drew this symbol on the pitcher, but we call it a smile.” – head researcher Nicolò Marchetti
Kutarq 3D Printed Mug
Product design company Kutarq Studio pays homage to body modification and art with its latest 3D-printed coffee cup series, ‘cerco.’
Embrace the morning with this animated espresso cup. With a discerning and minimalist eye, Cerco pays homage to traditional jewelry and decorum. Its porcelain handle hugs the cup like a piercing; a nod to the culture of adornment and body art. Cerco’s circular handle is as much a design element as it is a thoughtfully placed handgrip for the perfect sip. An eye-catching espresso cup adorned with a delicate, looping handle.
Cerco
Cerco
Cerco
Cerco
God Complex
Nicholas Galanin, God Complex, 2015, Ceramic, dimension varies
detail
God Complex is part of Alaskan multidisciplinary artist Nicholas Galanin’s exhibition I Think It Goes Like This (July 7 – September 2, 2017) at Peters Projects in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His work often explores a dialogue of change and identity between Native and non-Native communities. He addresses the result of violence in societies around the world in an iconoclastic nature. The artist challenges the viewer to consider how suppression from violence destroys religion and spiritualism.
Takuro Kuwata
Takuro Kuwata,(left) Untitled and (right) Untitled, 2016, Alison Jacques Gallery / Salon 94
Takuro Kuwata’s Frieze Sculpture at Regent’s Park in London is on display through October 8, 2017.
Kuwata’s works as a whole self-evidently a mixture of nature and manufacture, planning and accident, and the acceptance, and perhaps overcoming, of the latter. Within all that, of course, is a strong element of wabi-sabi, the sense of a beauty that is imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. Yet ultimately a sense of any particular philosophy is not the overwhelming impression with which these works leave you.
The Regent’s Park brings together 25 new and significant works by leading 20th-century and contemporary artists from around the world. The outdoor exhibition is free and open to the public.
Paul McMullan
Paul McMullan, (left) Bicycle Boy, 2016, Earthenware, ceramic, glaze, luster, decals, collage, 19 × 9 × 9 inches; (right) Blue Boy, 2014, Collaged ceramic, Earthenware, glaze, and luster, 19 × 9 × 9 inches
Wayne Ferguson
Kentucky ceramics artist and teacher Wayne Ferguson’s quirky figures include a zombie reinterpretation of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and even a phallic face-off between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.
Wayne Ferguson, Zombie Mitch McConnell
Wayne Ferguson, Zombie Mitch McConnell
East Fork Pottery
East Fork Pottery‘s has introduced it’s yummy yuzu-colored wares to its bespoke collection. The stunning wares are subtle, yet strong. The special edition color is available through August.
Do you love or loathe these selections from the worlds of contemporary ceramic art and contemporary ceramics? Let us know in the comments.
Thank you for posting my Zombie Mitch and the Phallic Face Off. It has been censored recently.