Why ceramics?
About seven years ago, ceramics started appearing in my art projects. At first in the form of porcelain painting. Then gradually my interest shifted from decorating surfaces to creation of forms. The “Earth” project is the fruit of my aspiration to find expressive and concise natural forms with a minimum of decoration.
The ceramic object is the result of the interaction of four elements, four elements: the substance taken from the earth has to unite with water to become malleable, give excess moisture to air to assert itself in the form chosen by the artist, and undergo a transformation by fire to resemble a hard and resonant stone. But if the relationship with water, air and fire is transient for ceramics, the earthy element constitutes its very unchangeable essence: we transform the earth. In fact, this is the most basic occupation of man, a being deeply attached to the Earth, to transform it, whether wastelands into gardens, formless stones into architectural fantasies, creaking sand into resounding and transparent glass, or lumps of clay into vessels and figures.
The most ancient techniques of mould making, such as wickerwork, which existed as far back as the Palaeolithic period and are still in active use by craftsmen in Africa or Latin America, appear to me to be the purest approaches to obtaining natural forms, determined only by the properties of the material, the capabilities of human hands and the purpose of the product. And natural methods of decoration, also very archaic, which existed long before the appearance of modern chemicals and dyes, complete the natural forms. The combination of different clays, imprinting and scratching, baking and natural glazing with ash at high firing are techniques that, in my opinion, can be used to make the most earthy objects out of the most earthy material.