GORDON COOKE and IAN CHAPMAN ‘Clay Partners’ – Ceramics
By Ateneu do Catorze
Free
Ateneu do Catorze
R. do Comércio 16
São Luís
37.71509383039994, -8.66671376931644
Check on Google MapsR. do Comércio 16
São Luís
37.71509383039994, -8.66671376931644
GORDON COOKE and IAN CHAPMAN
'Clay Partners' - Ceramics
They are two experienced ceramists, with career as artists and teachers, both from England, they are living and working in Vale Ferro, Odemira for over a decade. In the exhibition that they specially prepared together for our micro-gallery, we can see two different languages, different volumes, different shapes and textures, relating in a perfect harmony, communicating ideas of balance, of symmetry and asymmetry, proportion and disproportion, the geometric and the organic. Life in the Alentejo and the images they take from the surrounding landscapes have had a very strong influence on these recent works.
Gordon's pieces reflect his interest in organic surfaces and simple shapes, carry forward ongoing ideas of fantasy landscapes. He uses different clay bodies and clay slips together with glaze and oxides.
Ian's pieces are, as he likes to call them, 'Balanced Forms'. They have small bases with three points of contact for stability and forms that lean forward then flare backwards, they aim to be balanced physically as well as visually. They are made in stoneware, painted with engobes.
It is really worth watching this pair exhibition live and seeing up close all the details that distinguish and bring together the works of these two artists, partners in clay and in life.