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Alfredo Sosabravo

Alfredo Sosabravo, Stores

Alfredo Sosabravo, Stores

Stores

I had been working as a painter and graphic artist since 1950 when I first entered the world of ceramics in 1965. I began working in a craft workshop where I used this technique and these materials to create the works shown in an exhibition of painting and ceramics held at the Havana Gallery in 1967.
Immediately afterwards, I was invited to a number of exhibitions where I was able to show my work. By then it had begun to attract both national and international recognition and I was actually awarded an honorary diploma at Vallauris and a gold medal at Faenza in 1976. These prizes represented a commitment with regards to the public and encouraged me to continue to produce ceramics, even though I had not initially planned to do so.
With the proliferation of new building throughout the country, there was an increased demand for architectural decoration and I was commissioned to create various ceramic murals that were prominently placed in a number of public buildings. When the Havana Museum of Ceramics was founded, a section was devoted to my work. However, my passion for painting and graphic work has never waned and in 1992 I began working in both fields. Ceramics represent the point where art and science meet, the exact point at which physics and chemistry combine with colour, drawing and form to create a new entity that may be enjoyed by all.

Alfredo Sosabravo

Thomas Stimm

Thomas Stimm, Earth

Earth

As an art student I started to make coloured sculptures. Ten years later, around 1980, I bought a packet of clay in a hobby shop and it was a great adventure and highly satisfying for me to build my first piece in clay. From then on my technique became better and better and now it is my favourite material. Around 1993, I began making art works connected with our planet. I tried to establish “Terra” as a universal name for it. Over the past two or three years I have been working on these wall pieces. I see them as a kind of homage to the most perfect place for us in the universe.

Thomas Stimm

Hale Tenger

Hale Tenger, Turkish delight

Hale Tenger, Turkish delight

Hale Tenger, Turkish delight, Civic Art Gallery, Savona, 2003

Turkish Delight

For my contribution to the 2nd Biennial of Ceramics in Contemporary Art I wanted to use a replica of the ancient clay Priapus figure from the collection of the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk, Turkey. I had used it previously as a ready-made in touristic-kitsch, cast-brass form in a wall installation I made at the 3rd Istanbul Biennial in 1992, titled I Know People Like This. The piece consisted of an army of Priapus figures forming a crescent with a star in the middle surrounded by hear-no-speak-no-see-no-evil monkey statuettes in the background, with few more Priapus stars scattered throughout the whole composition.
The Priapus figure considered as a fertility god originated at Lampsacus, now known as Lapseki and located in north-west Turkey. It was later adopted by the Greeks, who recognised him as the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite. The Romans, too, adopted this cult and Priapus figures were set up in gardens as a kind of scarecrow to ward off not only animal pests but also the evil eye and harmful spirits. With its significance transformed in the 20th century, it is now sold on markets as a sex-joke souvenir object in the form of clay or brass statuettes and key-ring ornaments. Rather ironically, in some adaptations of its current manifestation — which I used in I Know People Like This — the head has shrunk in comparison to the ancient versions, thus transforming the Priapus into a “dick head.”
I was taken to court for creating the piece and accused of insulting the Turkish flag. The first court case was dropped with my successful defence based on the fact that various configurations of stars and crescents were used in the flags of 12 other nations and there was no actual flag used in the piece. The case was then taken to a higher court where I was accused of insulting and disgracing the emblems of the Turkish nation. In order to prevent me from ending up in prison, my lawyer focused his defence this time on the issue that the piece was symbolizing the universal/heavenly oppression of women by men and that it had nothing to do specifically with being a Turk. As a result I was cleared of the charges. While the gender issue was of some significance as I could not have made the same point by using Venus of Willendorf rather than the priapus figure, it was not actually my main concern in relation to this piece. Freedom of speech has its limits and if I wanted to avoid going to prison I had no opportunity to openly criticize the harsh politics of the ruling power in Turkey — especially in the southeast at that time. Nevertheless, the visual reading was out there in the open and was well understood by the public.
A decade after making the piece mentioned above, I wanted to use the Priapus figure again, not an adapted version but rather a replica, this time retaining its ancient significance of celebrating fertility. In order to express this fruitfulness in a light-hearted manner I used a combination of my favorite Iznik plate patterns from the Ottoman era all over his body as tattoos: tulips on the arms, flowers all over the body and radiant vines winding around the phallus bearing dainty bunches of grape. This may be seen as wishful celebration of the reforms that have been long awaited in Turkey — reforms which have actually been introduced lately albeit at a much slower pace and on a much reduced scale than had been predicted. Not being overly optimistic for the near future and seeing confusion as the most dominant characteristic of the region, I preferred to use cloud patterns from Iznik wares to adorn the head of my version of Priapus that I call Turkish Delight.
Finally, and most importantly, I would like to mention that it was a great pleasure for me to meet and work with Mrs Rina Moliardo, Mr Luciano Figallo and Ms Barbara Arto at Fenice Studio in Albisola. Although I have some years’ experience in ceramics I preferred to leave the application of my design without any hesitation to the magic touch of Mrs Rina Moliardo who is like an angel in my eyes.

Hale Tenger

Danilo Trogu

Danilo Trogu, Popolare

Danilo Trogu, Popolare

Danilo Trogu, Popolare

Danilo Trogu, Popolare

Iké Udé

Iké Udé, Blue China

Iké Udé, Blue China

Iké Udé, Blue China

Iké Udé, Blue China

Beyond decorum

One of the earliest, if not the first piece of sculpture that captured my childhood fancy was actually — I believe — an exquisite Chinese cat rendered in a glazed ceramic. An uncle of mine bought it for me during an excursion to a London flea market.
Ceramic is one of those media, those precious media that most artists secretly love to work with but rarely have the opportunity or excuse to do so. Hence, despite or rather because of the delicate and exquisite end result, it’s such a thrill for me to be working in the ceramic medium for the first time. How delightful, challenging, intriguing and no less rewarding it all is.
The theme of my work, shirt and shirt-collar, is a natural extension of and inquiry into my ongoing Beyond Decorum body of work that I have been working on since 2000.

Iké Udé

Giuseppe Uncini