Spotted | Deliciously Naughty Donuts, Voulkos’ Pillowed Forms + more!

Welcome back to Spotted, our weekly selection of our top favorites from the world of contemporary ceramic art and contemporary ceramics. This week, as we check our naughty or nice list getting ready for the holidays, we’re going to give you (and ourselves) the green light to err on the naughty side. No one is looking; Just slide these ceramic gems over from your Wish List to your Shopping Cart. Once the deed is done, we’ll whisk you off on a yummy journey with some Pop-y eye-candy.

More Voulkos! John Mason! Oh My!

Riding on the coattails of this month’s record-breaking Rondena sale at Phillips’ Evening Sale auction, we’ve Spotted several more Peter Voulkos sculptures, including this 1958 sculpture at Jeffrey Spahn Gallery.

Made of high fired stoneware with second low fired enamel glazes on top, it’s an early example of Voulkos’ distinctive multiple stacked forms on top of each other at Otis College of Art and Design Art institute in Los Angeles. Emblematic of Fernand Leger and other contemporaries at the time, this particular example references figurative movements inspired by the artists exposure to contemporary dance at Black Mountain College and in New York City, as well as his love of flamenco. This towering form has been referred to as a winged form due to the pillowed shapes jutting from the multiple sides of the piece, which also indicative of the artist’s rapid sculpting and fingered joints.

Bronze Burd Table (1962-1970) was constructed of smashed chunks of casting wax which came in large slabs three inches thick. Periodically over the course of several years the artist would often use left over bronze from larger pours to cast these chucks, first made in 1962, they were then welded into this asymmetrical form on a bronze ground to form, a table scape. This same technique can be seen in Voulkos’ ‘Remington #2’ Reclining Figure (1961) bronze sculpture.

While available through Jeffrey Spahn’s Wish-List, a limited number of the gallery’s items are on display through Artnet.

Also available is John Mason’s stunning (in both size and movement of form), versatile Monumental Wall Sculpture (1958). Pictured below in two arrangements. Mason was knowns for his investigations into the ceramic form and plasticity.

Donut Panic! Jae Yong Kim’s Ceramic Treats

These look so scrumptious and delightful, we may just put South Korean-born, Jersey City-based ceramicist Jae Yong Kim on our own naughty list.  These faux donuts are just exquisitely crafted, heightening each other in their amassed presentation.

Taking cues that evoke a sense of pop culture, including Yayoi Kusama’s iconic polka dots, or Jackson Pollack’s viscous abstract paintings, Kim creates deliciously glazed donuts out of clay, glitter and Swarovski crystals, Colossal writes.

“Without my intention, references to Pop Art have been a consistent occurrence throughout the entirety of the donut artworks. Questioning myself regarding the donuts falling in line with a specific genre has brought questions and need for understanding. Each individual donut has invariably read to me as a small painting; color, pattern and physicality have been the ultimate procedure for my personal expression.”

Read more here.

Nick Misani’s Fauxsaics

The Fauxsaics series  by New York-based freelance designer Nick Misani features beautiful “tiled” floors with city names in beautiful typography. They are not actual mosaics, however, they are instead fictitious images illustrated by hand.

See more here.

Do you love or loathe these finds from the world of contemporary ceramic art and contemporary ceramics. Let us know in the comments section.