Trans-Ceramic Art

This international exhibition was a survey of world-wide contemporary ceramic art representing the work of 30 artists from 16 countries, including two from the UK, Richard Slee, and the sculptor, Anthony Gormley.

For this exhibition, Richard Slee began to examine and question the cultural translatability of the British domestic landscape. From previous visits to Korea (including previous invitation to the 2001 Biennale), he had become interested in the commonalities and differences in attitudes to everyday utensils, and his pieces for the exhibition represented this challenge.

The result of his research led him to make pieces which questioned the illusion and surreal aspect of the everyday British artefact. In tandem with the theme of the ‘strange’, he produced and undertook a performance work entitled ‘Big Nose’, based upon the early western traders (‘strangers’) in the eighteenth century referred to as ‘big noses’ in the Far East.

Artist Profile

Richard Slee's career as a studio ceramicist now spans over thirty years. Born in 1946 in Cumbria, he attended Carlisle College of Art and graduated in Ceramics from the (then) Central School of Art and Design in 1970. Early career consisted of part-time teaching and practice as a Studio Ceramicist; he was awarded an MA in Design from the Royal College of Art in 1988.

Slee started teaching at Camberwell College of Art in 1990, and was awarded professorship in 1992. Throughout his career he has built an international presence in the USA, Canada, Korea, Japan, Australia and Europe, with his work being represented in numerous collections world-wide.

He completed a major commission for Sculpture at Goodwood in 2000, and in the following year was awarded The Jerwood Applied Arts Prize for his contribution to contemporary Ceramics. In 2002, he curated the exhibition 'Sleepers' at The Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, as part of the Ceramica International Festival. In 2006, he received an Arts Council Individual Artist Award to further his practice.

Richard Slee is represented in the United Kingdom by Barrett Marsden Gallery, London.

Artist’s Statement

"Specializing in ceramics as the medium, my interests and practice has evolved from Studio Pottery to a contemporary craft debate with reference to the current positioning of material specializations in visual creativity. Recent developments in my output have seen the use of both the found and non-ceramic materials in works produced questioning past loyalties towards a single material.

A formal exploration of the creative use of fired enamels onto metal has been recently undertaken, to expand my personal craft knowledge. The resulting works challenge both the place and purpose of individually produced and crafted works."

• http://www.richardslee.com
• http://www.bmgallery.co.uk/slee/slee.htm...
• http://www.sculpture.org.uk/biography/Ri...
• http://www.photostore.org.uk/seCVPG.aspx...