A selection of 13 International ceramists will be present; some, such as British Matthew Chambers, or American Cheryl Ann Thomas have never been exhibited in France. About fifty pieces will be on display, some of them especially commissioned for this event. For some years, a real revolution has taken place in the field of contemporary ceramic, under the double impulse of the ceramists themselves, and of the design and art scene, that tend to push farther the limits of their fields. At the same time, many artists are more and more interested in what is called ‘the culture of the project’, that all designers have been long familiar with. These creators find in the medium which constitutes the clay, a capacity to bear witness to the contemporary world. All of them keep in mind the extraordinary creativity of the ceramists of the 1950’s and the developments of the following years. Impregnated with this rich history, they are developing their own worlds.
Well-known ceramists such as Kristin McKirdy, Ursula Morley Price, Nicholas Rena or even Betty Woodman, with their technical skills, have brought to this ancestral material a specific approach, and found a way to go beyond the limits. The traditional practice had indeed locked the ceramic into an utilitarian and decorative context, even if the 1950’s generation had introduced important changes. But it is through the work of these confirmed ceramists that we discover the immensely creative potential of the clay, allowing these artists to be more abstract, to free themselves from ceramic in order to better come back to it. For example, Nicholas Rena’s pieces move away from their original purpose to turn into ‘silence objects’. As for Kristin McKirdy, she does not stop questioning, according to Pierre Staudenmeyer "through a relatively reduced register of forms, the presence of a material, the depiction of a technique or the experiment of a use or rather a non-use of the jar, the earth, the art of the ceramic".
The young talents, even if they are made of the same "compost" as their elders, also belong to their own time, a generation which rubbed itself, and was even involved in other disciplines of creation, either by their education, or simply as artists in search of a material answering their expectations. Today, proud to be firmly rooted in a history of ceramic at last restored to favour as a fully recognised artistic activity, the young artists/ceramists selected for this exhibition find their inspiration outside the very field of ceramics. Dawn Youll's familiar metaphors appear then as a 3D painting with shine and matt effects due to chosen enamels. Akashi Murakami presents a fantasy landscape populated with vegetables which she corrects with her moldings.
To investigate the limits, the tensions, the breaking points of clay, is a major concern, as we can see in the extraordinary expressiveness of Matthew Chambers, Cheryl Ann Thomas, Nathalie Derouet or even Merete Rasmussen pieces. They find in their work the true balance between the necessary free and spontaneous movement of the creative act, and the technical constraints and the rigour required in order to control ceramics. It is because they master the material and because they feel free to look at other creative fields, that they sometimes permit themselves be critical or humorous in front of a purist, orthodox and obviously necessary ceramic. We shall discover the incredible contemporary tales of Louise Hindsgavl in her theatrical china figurines, similar to those displayed in glass cabinets in times past. About fifty pieces chosen for "Fables contemporaines" will be revealed in a historic location, a unique and rare place in the heart of ile Saint Louis in Paris. They will show their strength in interiors imagined by Jean-Jacques Dutko, antique dealer and eclectic gallery owner, unclassifiable trend setter, who has always known how to rethink his practice according to the contexts of modernity.
The exhibition will be held from Decembre 3rd 2010 to January 29th 2011
