Blair Clemo
Heavily influenced by European decorative arts, Blair Clemo’s work responds to the history of ornamentation and material culture. He makes familiar utilitarian forms such as mugs, teacups, vases and tureens using techniques and materials that raise questions about how we assign value to handmade versus mass-produced ceramics.
Many of Clemo’s vessels combine hand-built, wheel-thrown and press-molded elements. Joined together, these experimental parts articulate a deeper content, as in Clemo’s recent blue and white vases. Decorated with repeated concentric circles, they suggest that “our ceramic history is a moving target, no longer the exclusive language of one culture, but the ubiquitous, global language of porcelain itself—both ancient and contemporary.”
“My pots balance on a fine line between sincerity and irony. They are sincere in their careful craft and potential for use; yet their assertion of material value and wealth is as transitory and uncertain as our own status in an unsteady world.”
Caroline produces videos for LookSEE, shedding light on artists’ ways of thinking and making.
