The fair took place in early May and the format was typical of an art fair; a host of dealer galleries rented stalls and showcased the work of key artists on their books.
The good: the stalls and work were well spaced, easy to navigate, well lit and a good range of disciplines were represented.
The not so good: the ticket price - 15 pounds on the door (that’s nearly 30 NZD!) and the catalogue was a further 12 pounds – who can afford that?!
Highlights for me included the glass work of Steffen Dam, whose beautiful blown glass was hard to look away from.
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| Steffen Dam |
Artist Matt Durran displayed some great experiments with Obsidian, black volcanic glass he had hand-mined in Hungary, melted and then recast. Interestingly, once the obsidian has been re-melted in the kiln it becomes buoyant and the pieces he displayed were floating. Read more in an interview with him here.
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| Matt Durran |
The jewellery at the show catered for every taste and the mastery was evident. I liked the work of Karl Fritsch who had teamed up with Francis Upritchard – the works they had on display were similar the image below.
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| Karl Fritsch and Francis Upritchard |
As for the ceramics... There were some amazing blow-me-away sculptural pieces, a slew of delicate porcelain vessels and handsome Leechesque pots, and some real crap as well (as is to be expected).
A real highlight was an installation of wall pieces by Catrin Howell, sitting away from the wall, the pieces cast shadows that gave a real sense of movement and drama when viewed in a group.
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| Catrin Howell |
I was drawn to the texture and form of these pieces by Carl Richard Soderstrom
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| Carl Richard Soderstrom |
Some trends were evident too:
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| Barbro-Johansson (left) Annie Turner (right) |
The installation by Katharine Morling is very striking (and bares interesting similarities to the work of New Zealand artist Martin Poppelwell), the objects are life-sized, and feel dangerously delicate. She has a really interesting portfolio of work – take a look at her website.
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| Katharine Morling |
I have to say that overall I felt a little bit disappointed with the ceramics I saw, mainly for the fact that it didn’t seem as boundary pushing as what was going on in the other mediums – but then I remind myself that this is not necessarily a representation of what is going on in the ceramics scene. The object fair is a commercial exercise (remember the entry fee!), the audience is targeted and the displays are market driven. I have no idea what the galleries paid to have a stall, but I can’t imagine it came cheap – there was red carpet laid out the front of the gallery the day I went for god’s sake!
I came away with two main thoughts in regards to the ceramics; 1. It was underpriced compared to similar objects in other disciplines, 2. The work of my fellow ceramicists in NZ would easily hold their own in a show like this – I mean easily, and would probably show the others a thing or two as well.
Hope you enjoyed the inaugural post, look forward to hearing your thoughts about it.
- Louise, Urban Archaeology UK rep!
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