Manifold selects works from the V&A Ceramics and Glass collections, on view in the galleries from the 20th March – 13th April.
I chose two objects and included works I made from raw clay, and a postcard from the studio wall, William Scott’s painting Mackerel on a Plate.
Sculpture (fish in basket)
Glazed earthenware, probably Mafra & Son, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal, ca. 1870
Length: 90 cm approx., Width: 35 cm, Height: 25 cm approx.
This fish is colossal – I love how big and bold it is and how visceral – freshly dead, glossy and stiff with rigor mortis. Sea creatures often resurface in my imagination, rich in significance. This one seems to be a prize, a representation of bounty and generosity but also decadence and greed; to kill such a beautiful thing. It is dazzling but sinister, a grotesque baby in a Moses basket.
Selected by Ellie Doney – Sea sculpture
Sea Sculpture
Underglaze cobalt blue decorated porcelain cups fused together. Shell and coral growths.
Found on the sea bed in Vietnam, cups made in Jingdezhen, China ca.1725.
In this accidental sculpture is a dramatic story of fire and shipwreck, but also longer, ongoing narratives about the history of ceramics, trade and globalised culture. It is ambivalent, reminding me at once of the ‘long now’ and transience, tragedy and hopefulness, of fragility and strength.
Ariel Sings:
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
There are pearls that were his eyes
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea change
Into something rich and strange.
From The Tempest, William Shakespeare.
Artist Matthew Raw has been V&A Ceramic Artists in Residence for the last 6 months, and this April hands the baton to Amy Hughes. To celebrate a whole year of Manifold at the V&A everyone in the studio has selected works from the Ceramics and Glass collections.
