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- Title of Exhibit Proposal:
Towards the Embrace: sculptural ceramics that engage the body (Ref #200)
- Date:
- 26-10-2006 11:22:59
- Status:
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Accepted
- Rating:
- 8
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Details:
- Touch is the most direct and least analyzed of our senses; it is the grounding sense, the sense of tangibility. Yet within our western culture a hegemony of vision has developed to the detriment of our tactile awareness. As with other crafted objects, ceramic ware has always been handled, and made by hand. This long history of engaging touch has given us an innate and intimate understanding of the tactile qualities of fired clay. Therefore, sculptural ceramics is an appropriate medium to challenge visual dominance.
The sculptural ceramic objects proposed for exhibition were developed out of a PhD by Practice, which aims to more fully engage the body?s sense of touch. The progressive experience of the work, seeing -- touching -- grasping -- lifting -- holding -- embracing, makes viewers into touchers, moving away from sight alone and its required distance, to the intimacy of bodily contact. In the studio my physical experience of the hug and the embrace was captured in soft plaster. The resulting plaster casts were used to create textured, non-figurative ceramic works to be cradled and caressed. The work is to be shown on combined bench/plinths to encourage handling. As touchers interact with this work, they share in the intimacy of the making process.
Our bodies interact with the work on several levels. The surface qualities of the ceramic objects engage our abilities to distinguish texture. The weight of the work as it rests against the body stimulates a pleasurable sensation of pressure. The work is low-fired and unglazed to facilitate the equalization of temperature between the toucher?s body and the ceramic pieces. As the body settles around the work in different positions, our sense of proprioception is engaged, that is, we sense our body in space and in relation to the objects around us. As the work moves across areas of bare skin the sense of a delicate touch, ?the lover?s touch?, stimulates areas of the brain associated with pleasure and well-being. Handling and embracing the work evokes touch memories and subconscious associations. Finally, interaction with the work generates a sense of self, as a blurring of the subject/object divide leads the toucher to a self-reflective sensuality.
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Reviewer Comments:
Public Comments:
- Comment left by Clifford Green on 26-10-2006 13:36:13 #
- Didn't Henry Moore say that good sculpture wants to be touched?
- Comment left by Flash Rosenberg on 24-11-2006 12:54:09 #
- This work is brilliant while being gleefully unconventional. The artist turns standard notions of ceramic preciousness and fragility on its head...and into our arms. I believe this artist has arrived at a moment of genius where she naturally invites the viewer to share her sensations of dancing with clay, while creating pieces of profound elegance and sophistication. Utterly wonderful!