Featuring Mark Divo, Pascal Häusermann and Cristian Andersen

Guest curator: Olga Stefan

Why is it that Modernism, despite Roger Fry’s admiration for the material, relegated clay sculpture to the area of craft? And why is craft a bad word in contemporary art? Even today, after many important modern and contemporary artists tried their hand at it, ceramic still remains a material not worthy of contemporary sculpture for so many others. This contempt is shown even in the the lexicon which differentiates clay-based sculpture from the rest: the name of potter applies to those that make both pots, read functional and decorative objects, but also non-functional sculpture. Or is it an art that is just so difficult to master that it mandates a categorization of its own? A reconsideration of the clay-based material in contemporary sculpture is necessary. 

Fire It Up explores the work of three artists who make work from clay-based material and proposes that craft, once liberated from function, should be once again embraced as a necessary part of art-making. 

Vernissage: Thursday, March 15, 7pm

Artist Talk: Friday, March 16 , 7pm

with Mark Divo and Pascal Häusermann, moderated by Olga Stefan