Welcome to Spotted, your weekly roundup of interesting ephemera from the worlds of contemporary ceramics and contemporary ceramic art! Kicking off this week we have news of a Roy Lichtenstein ceramic sculpture up for auction through Phillips. It’s a steal at just $400,000. The work will be sold at the 20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale (New York, November 16).
Roy Lichtenstein, Ceramic Sculpture #7, 1965, painted and glazed ceramic, 9 1/2 x 7 x 7 inches. Estimate: $400,000 – $600,000.
From Lichtenstein’s biography on Artnet: Lichtenstein used popular culture as a basis for art in the late 1950s and marked a move away from Abstract Expressionism. His paintings co-opted commercial imagery, and he is best known for his use of Benday dots—the method used in newspapers and comic strips to denote gradients and texture—on a large scale. Born Roy Fox Lichtenstein on October 27, 1923 in New York, NY, he began his career at the Art Students League of New York after graduating from high school. He eventually earned his MFA from the Ohio State University in 1949, after leaving twice to serve in the US Army, and started to teach a decade later. While working as a professor at Rutgers University, he met Allan Kaprow who inspired him to revisit pop imagery in his practice. Lichtenstein returned to New York where he continued to live and work until his death on September 29, 1997, at the age of 73.
Blue and White Potted Plants by Paul Scott
These photographs were collected from a recent exhibition of work by UK ceramist Paul Scott (b. 1953). Trees and Cuttings were shown at Cheeseburn Sculpture in Northumberland. Cheeseburn states:
Works by Paul Scott. Photographs courtesy of the artist.
Paul Scott is well known for his research into ceramics and print, and has a particular interest in transferwares. These blue willows and landscape patterns mechanized by the Staffordshire potteries in the early 19th century will be a familiar sight in kitchens around the country. The traditional blue and white is used to great effect by Scott in this exhibition, and sits notably in amongst the greenery of the landscaped grounds.
COBE Flowerpots Based on Copenhagen School
This lovely piece of design comes to us courtesy of Dezeen, who reported that the architecture studio COBE has created a series of flowerpots based on their 2014 kindergarten school in Copenhagen.
The pots come in three different sizes – vase, bowl and flower pot – and are stackable to create staggered heights.
Their ridged exterior and rust-coloured finish are intended to resemble the building’s brick cladding, while rounded corners recall the shape of each of Forfatterhuset Kindergarten’s five interconnected buildings.
Plants placed in the containers resemble the green roof gardens of the building. Each pot is earthenware glazed on the inside, so it’s waterproof, and has been handmade in Denmark.
Do you love or loathe these works of contemporary ceramics and contemporary ceramic art? Let us know in the comments.
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