Introduction                                   

FIRE traces a lineage of ceramics, from pre-Modern Japanese vessels to contemporary ceramics of today. The objects in this exhibition illuminate a series of call and response across five hundred years, between artists and cultures, that have navigated boundaries between art and craft. A fifteenth century jar born out of Shigaraki, one of the six ancient kilns of Japan, initiates the timeline of this exhibition, contextualizing the evolution of many of these objects. The likes of Shigaraki ware found their way to the West upon the opening of Japanese ports in the mid 1800s, prompting an exchange that has persisted over time and informed much of the work in this exhibition. 

The expansion of this trade opened the door to a  confluence of art and craft, igniting an appreciation for craftsmanship in a rapidly industrializing Europe, where object as commodity superseded object as art. Such objects spawned a wave of influence not only formally, but conceptually. What started as an initial moment of commercial contact begot an entirely new era of Modern ceramics.  

This plurality carried on through the twentieth century in waves, peaking during Modernism in Europe prior to rippling through the Americas during the post-war period. It is during this time period that the artistic potential of ceramics expands, growing from purely functional to purely formal. Artists abandon notions of function in pursuit of a sculptural approach, expanding upon Modernist forms. Through the mid 20th century and into the 21st, form evolves from a pathway to function to an aesthetic quality. 

As such, the ceramic work of today becomes an encoding of history, a visualization of the progression of the medium. Function does not necessitate form, nor does form necessitate function; each exists in limitless combination. Time becomes a medium as much as clay; the clay recording, revealing  and interpreting an entropic space in which ceramics might be appreciated not only for their craftsmanship but  for artifice itself.

FIRE examines the flexibility of a medium that has spanned the ages. By convening the work of a wide range of artists across the span of hundreds of years, this exhibition demonstrates the diversity of possibility in a medium grounded in fire.

Press Release 

Alison Bradley Projects is pleased to present FIRE: A Curated Selection of Ceramics, featuring work by artists Jane Yang-D'Haene, George Ohr, Miwa Neishi, Nick Mauss, Keiko Narahashi, Fawn Krieger, Jiha Moon, Ewen Henderson, Yuta Segawa, Francesco Simeti, David Kennedy Cutler, William J. O'Brien, Ruth Duckworth, Toshiko Takaezu, Beate Kuhn, and more. 

FIRE presents a rotating body of over 100 works by a broad range of ceramic artists, from the fifteenth century to the current day. This exhibition serves to introduce the gallery’s ceramics program, which is grounded in the pre-modern lineage of Japanese and Korean vessels. Showcasing a selection of three-dimensional works, the pieces on view offer a window into the malleability of the medium and diversity of the ever-progressing ceramic tradition. These works challenge the boundaries of the ceramic as functional craft and its relation to the artist as an individual. Though the objects featured diverge in their function, form, and technique, they find common ground in FIRE. 

The featured artists capture a history, evolution, and cross-cultural exchange of a medium found iterated across cultures for millennia. These works embody the transformation of boundaries between art, craft, and commerce, the continuous expansion of the status of the ceramic, and the relationship of the contemporary to the tradition of craft. FIRE seeks to navigate these boundaries, as well as exemplify the border crossing of artistic influence. 

Our exhibition demonstrates a series of responses between artists, movements, cultures, and media. The overarching timeline of the exhibition allows for an exploration into the progression of ceramics from functional craft to a high Contemporary Art. The scope of the exhibition invites viewers to witness a through line of influence, as artists build upon the traditions and experiments of those who came before. A history of function informs a future of art, demonstrating less a delineation between art and craft, but instead the continuation of a dynamic relationship, in which one informs the other. The works are simultaneously situated within and without– evading singular definition or classification. 

Alison Bradley Projects is honored to present work that showcases the legacy of ceramic tradition and its evolution in the Modern and Contemporary era and beyond. FIRE will be on view from November 17, 2022 to January 7, 2023, with works rotating throughout the run of the show.