Artists and artisans working with ceramics have steadily contributed to the art world for centuries. From prehistoric pottery to ancient Greek amphoras, from the rise of porcelain in Asia and Europe to the Arts and Crafts movement in England and the U.S., ceramic traditions have long fascinated artists and infiltrated their practices. In the contemporary art world, this was never more clear than in 2014, when ceramics arguably achieved peak popularity.
At the Whitney Biennial that year, the ceramics of Sterling Ruby and Shio Kusaka were featured prominently; the de Purys curated a show of leading ceramic artists at Venus Over Manhattan; and at major fairs like Frieze and Art Basel, galleries punctuated their presentations with pots by Dan McCarthy and Takuro Kuwata, and the figurative sculptures of Rachel Kneebone and Klara Kristalova.
It was within this context that older living artists who have long championed the medium, like Betty Woodman, Ken Price, Arlene Schechet, and Ron Nagle, saw a resurgence; and younger artists like Jesse Wine, Rose Eken, Elizabeth Jaeger, and Jennie Jieun Lee found a market. And while the trend has tapered off somewhat, enthusiasm for ceramics remains strong and artists working in the medium continue to maintain a steady foothold in art-world venues.
“Ceramics is a medium that, with every passing decade, becomes easier for the untrained to manipulate—more rampant, versatile, and demystified, and perhaps more worthy of a clarified position within the wider history of sculpture,” says the British ceramist Aaron Angell, who set up a pottery studio in London in 2014 to teach fellow artists. “I feel that fired clay deserves better than to be indelibly colored by allusions to (not) being useful, the foggy world of craft, or the masturbatory hermetics of the master potter,” he adds.
And he’s by no means alone. Countless artists today are shifting the perception of ceramics, ensuring that whether taking the shape of a functional vessel or an explosive sculpture, the art form receives its due respect and recognition. Below, we share the work of 20 living ceramic artists, as they each share why they’re passionate about clay.
Bruce M. Sherman
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B. 1942, New York • Lives and works in New York
Lady of the Flora
Bruce M. Sherman
Lady of the Flora, 2016
Fort Makers
$7,500
Lord of the Flora
Bruce M. Sherman
Lord of the Flora, 2016
Fort Makers
$7,500
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“In working in clay, one communes with other works that have been fabricated and exist over hundreds and thousands of years,” says Sherman, who turned to ceramics after retiring from dentistry. “I work in a type of improvisational mode and each new piece is a new moment of beginning.” His works, which include both functional vessels and sculptures, are each infused with levity, humor, and character, be it through faces or a smattering of eyes or hands. Following his first New York solo show at White Columns in 2015, Sherman has picked up momentum, with a critical mass of shows in 2017 that includes solos at Kaufmann/Repetto in Milan, Nicelle Beauchene in New York, and Sorry We’re Closed in Brussels.
Yun Hee Lee
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B. 1986, Seoul • Lives and works in Seoul
Head Ballon
Yun Hee Lee
Head Ballon , 2016
Studio Shop Gallery
$5,500
The Castle Of The Spider’s Web
Yun Hee Lee
The Castle Of The Spider’s Web, 2017
ATELIER AKI
$2,700
In precise ceramic works, Lee portrays stories, fairy tales, and individuals experiencing fear, anxiety, or desire. “I consider my work as an amphitheater where stories are told,” Lee says. “I started working as if I was playing with dolls.” She often melds narratives of Western literature with traditional Eastern ceramic techniques, and she’s drawn to optimistic stories that she calls “cures,” wherein a protagonist is able to overcome hurdles and achieve self-discovery. The resulting works are exuberant, fantastical scenes and figures in porcelain Sculpture French Bulldog, which are at times glazed with intricate patterns and gold accents. Much of her recent work has taken Dante’s Divine Comedy as a point of departure, depicting the journey of a young heroine as she navigates hell, purgatory, and heaven. This Lee will show her work in Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, and Icheon, South Korea.
Roberto Lugo
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B. 1981, Philadelphia • Lives and works in Marlboro, Vermont
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Whitney Houston / Shirley Chisholm Urn
Roberto Lugo
Whitney Houston / Shirley Chisholm Urn, 2017
Wexler Gallery
$5,000 – 7,500
Yo Soy Boricua: A DNA Study
Roberto Lugo
Yo Soy Boricua: A DNA Study, 2019
Wexler Gallery
$55,000
Best known for expertly thrown ceramic vessels that are illustrated with activists, political figures, and hip-hop legends, Lugo aims to reach diverse audiences through his work. And he wears many hats, including potter, social activist, spoken-word poet, and educator—the last of which sees him working with community groups, teaching them, for example, to create mosaic murals that honor gun violence victims. His work is an extension of his experiences growing up in Philadelphia, from battle-rapping during lunch to doodling in composition books and making a name for himself in the graffiti scene.
To Disarm: Black Thought
Roberto Lugo
To Disarm: Black Thought, 2020
Wexler Gallery
$3,650
“Today my graffiti is defacing social inequality,” Lugo says. “My experiences as an indigent minority inform my version of Puerto Rican American history. I bring art to those that do not believe they need to see it and engage in deeper ways of knowing, learning, and thinking.” Lugo is currently working on a vase commission for the High Museum of Art, is part of the show “Black Clay: A Survey of African American Ceramics” at Chicago State University, and in May he’ll feature in the show “Jarring: Emmett Till and Since” at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts.
Aneta Regel
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B. 1976, Poland • Lives and works in London
Red Raining Stone
Aneta Regel
Red Raining Stone, 2017
Jason Jacques Gallery
$18,000
Orange Raining Stone
Aneta Regel
Orange Raining Stone, 2017
Jason Jacques Gallery
$20,000
Regel’s raw, anthropomorphic sculptures are inspired by human figures and nature—like the rocky landscape of northern Poland where she grew up—though they’re also autobiographical and fantastical. She seeks to represent states of metamorphosis and conflict, and the passage of time in her works, often by firing them several times and incorporating objects other than clay, like volcanic rocks and feldspars.
Tree
Aneta Regel
Tree, 2017
Jason Jacques Gallery
$19,000
Gienek
Aneta Regel
Gienek, 2018
Jason Jacques Gallery
$7,000
“Interaction between those materials is essential in forming shapes,” Regel says. “Rocks are pushed to their bursting point and lava state, and objects are often capturing the moment of passage from one state to another.” Her vibrant sculptures recently featured in the 2016 European Triennial for Ceramics and Glass, and will be on view at Design Miami/ Basel this June, and the focus of a solo show in New York at Jason Jacques.
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