The Artists I Like (Forgive me, this is long)

I said that I was going to be posting some ceramic artists I like and dislike and why, so this will be the first installment. First I want to explain how I went about picking these artists. The majority of this work was chosen because I feel that it meets many of the qualities that I feel contemporary art should possess. Obviously these are personal choices and my opinion of what makes art interesting to me. The work should address technology, either during the creation process or in its content. It should try to blur genre definitions, although I only think a couple of my selected artists are really creating work that may be difficult to define. I enjoy a clever use of appropriation, whether it is a direct copy or referencing another artwork. I am by no means a traditionalist, and in fact, really find myself wanting to pretty much reject everything about traditional ceramics, except the material, although, maybe that is next. Well, I could go on and on about this stuff, maybe I will elaborate more later, but if I don't want this to be twenty pages, I better get to the artists. I do not want to put images of other artists' work on my blog and worry about pissing them off, so I will just provide links if you are unfamiliar with the artist. These are in no particular order...

Richard Notkin http://www.artaxis.org/ceramics/notkin_richard/richard_notkin.htm

Richard Notkin is an artist that really influenced my journey to the "dark side" of content driven artwork. I like the fact that he is referencing the Yixing teapots, which, according to Notkin, contain a great deal of symbolism. This is obviously a logical choice then for Notkin, because his work contains his own visual language that he uses to address contemporary issues. His work is finely crafted, and although I don't believe that great art needs great craftsmanship, I think it does in his case because he is referencing pottery with a history of fine craft. After reading about his work in undergrad, I started to work on creating my own visual language, although with results that were not always successful.

Grayson Perry http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/grayson_perry.htm

I've seen his work before. But, only after Jennifer Allen had suggested to look at his work did I revisit it and realize how much I was drawn to the imagery. Now, I'm not going to adopt his transvestite lifestyle, and I didn't have such a troubled past, but I enjoy the fact that his work is so deeply personal. The imagery on his pots is aesthetically what I am attracted to. Layers of imagery and text with a juxtaposition of hand drawn images and images appropriated from advertising and other sources. The density that is created from the layering is wonderful, and it plays that edge of being too much. He's referencing the tradition of narrative with these pottery forms. I think it's great, too, that he didn't go through the traditional education system and made his work in a community pottery center.

Chad Curtis http://chaddcurtis.com/

I really think that he may be my favorite ceramic artist right now. But, before I get to that, I want to address a statement I made that sort of led to this whole thing. I said that I don't really like ceramic sculpture, or something along that vein. I explained that I thought it was too static and boring, and I basically go the response, "Well what do you want it to do? Dance?" Thinking back to that, I have to say that it wouldn't hurt. I am always thinking of ways I could incorporate robotics and technology into my pieces so they can become more dynamic, and more than just an object that you can look at for 15 seconds and move on. Chad Curtis creates work that does utilize technology, both in the finished piece and in the creation process. In the creation process, he is using a homebrew CNC milling machine to carve foam pieces (more on these topics later). He's using light, and water pumps, and fans, all of these components make his work dynamic. I enjoy the blending of materials. He has pieces that contain clay, corn, foam, water, wood, plexiglass, etc. This makes the work more engaging, because there is this mix of textures and surfaces and colors that just work well together. The fact that all of the cables and wires become part of the piece is also great. His work is very conceptual and heavy on content from all aspects of the art making process.

Guy Michael Davis http://guymichaeldavis.blogspot.com/

Again, an artist whose work I greatly admire, and one of the reasons I wanted to go to Ohio State so much (the great faculty was the main reason). Anyway, he creates his work utilizing 3D scanning and printing technology. Gasp! He doesn't hand make his work from start to finish you ask? No, and he probably ends up spending more time on his work than most people do. He has to make his prototype on the computer (or fix up the 3D scan), he still has to make a mold from the prototype, then he has to cast the pieces, and then assemble, glaze and fire his work just like everyone else does. He was part of a group called the Nonfiction Design Collective, although now they have split up into two groups, and he is part of the subgroup called Future Retrieval with Katie Parker. A lot of his work is juxtaposing historical western porcelain figures ,that they scanned when they were in Dresden, with rats and taxidermy animals that they have also scanned. As you've noticed before, I really like it when artists reference and remix parts of ceramics history to make them contemporary (this is why I am so interested in lithophanes). I'm drawn to this work because of the technological aspect, but I also think that his work is hilarious. This is of course hilarious in a good way, as I think that is his intention.

Barnaby Barford http://www.barnabybarford.co.uk/image_gallery/index.php

Okay, last one. Now, I don't know if this technically qualifies as a ceramics artist, but the work is mostly comprised of ceramic objects. I don't really even care if he is a ceramics artist, because he makes great work that is absolutely hilarious. As you will see, he mostly collects and alters post consumer ceramic figurines. He's using all of this stuff to address contemporary issues in a very satirical manner with an air of irreverence that is quite splendid. Once again, he is referencing that history of the ceramic figurine, and actually using ceramic figurines. He utilizes a mixing of materials. It's kind of hard to define where he fits into the overall scheme of things. Is he a sculptor? Ceramist? Well, he meets most of my criteria. The only area where he may be lacking is technology, although he addresses it in some of the content. But the fact that he is utilizing objects that have been already made is good enough for me.