Night Garage

‘Night Garage’ was the final point of two-months as artist-in-residence at Monash University. It consisted of an installation of a light bulb, toolbox, mechanic ‘snake’ and ‘pools’ of oil [‘trompe’ oil’!], all made in ceramic with high gloss earthenware glaze.

The premise of the show was to exhibit work by selected ceramicists, which was highly crafted but questioned traditional craft values, ways of working and display conventions.

‘Light bulb’ signified the white, coldness of fired ceramic, emphasising its industrial characteristic, in contrast to the pools of oil, which were shiny and reflective, free-form shapes. Ceramic objects are traditionally exhibited on plinths, or in vitrines, and spot lit. By exhibiting work that hung by electric cord, or lying on a bare concrete floor, the installation critiqued these conventions. Moreover, the ‘garage’ as a site of men’s hobby/labour, was a pun on the ‘potting shed’, and preciousness of the craft workshop. Subsequent work exhibited at ‘Voodoo Shit’, Hales Gallery, London (2004) also challenged the conventions of precious pottery figurines with ‘Dickheads’. I have continued this vein of thought in the forthcoming ‘Cult Fiction’, Hayward Gallery touring, opening 4 May, 2007, New Art Gallery Walsall, and touring (to 2008).

University supported research has led to the creation of important collections which represent more ‘difficult’ work. ‘Hypercrafting’ corresponds, therefore, to other group exhibitions/collections that have exhibited my work:
Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum, Bergen, Norway, ‘Burning Point Bergen’, 2002; Arizona State University Art Museum, ‘Ceramic Faculty Selects Clay from the Permanent Collection’, 2003.

I curated ‘Sleepers’ (Royal Cornwall Museum, 2002), part of the Ceramica Festival, to show work that challenged the conventional view of the modernist paradigm in art ceramics which relies on expressive abstraction. ‘Sleepers’ demonstrated the eclectic range of work beyond this static paradigm.
[see Alun Graves, ‘Slee Selects’, Ceramic Review, Sept/Oct, 2002].

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."

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