Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Jessica Harrison’s Latest Series of Altered Ceramic Figures

Ceramic figurines are like little reflections of ourselves. Historically modeled after royalty, famous actors, and unusual characters from every day life, they can show us who we are and where we come from. Scotland based artist Jessica Harrison sees figurines in much the same way, but beauty is only skin deep. She turns those reflections inside out to reveal her subjects' personality and complexities underneath.

Ceramic figurines are like little reflections of ourselves. Historically modeled after royalty, famous actors, and unusual characters from every day life, they can show us who we are and where we come from. Scotland based artist Jessica Harrison sees figurines in much the same way, but beauty is only skin deep. She turns those reflections inside out to reveal her subjects’ personality and complexities underneath. Previously featured on our blog, her altered ceramic sculptures of antique figures are at first surprising. Some feature refined young women, or “Painted Ladies” decorated head-to-toe in tattoos, others appear to have been violently mutilated and bloody. Recently, she exhibited her painted ladies at Banksy’s Dismaland park in England and the “SWEET 18” exhibition at Kasteel d’Ursel in Belgium. Her ladies explore the deformity of the body through body modification and costume. For her 2014 series “Broken”, Harrison featured ready-made, found ceramics that were modified and “broken”. Where the figures were once solid and brittle, by Harrison’s treatment they became instantly fragile, exposed and fleshy. It’s an ongoing investigation into the relationship between the physical and what we cannot see inside of us. She will exhibit next in “Ceramix”, a group exhibition about the use of ceramics by artists of the 20th and 21st century, opening October 16th at Bonnefantenmuseum, Netherlands.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
The shape of a church is indefinitely sketched into the landscape in the latest project by architecture duo, Gijs Van Vaerenbergh. Comprised of Belgian architects Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh, their series of see-through churches, "Reading Between the Lines," are not intended to be functional as shelter. They are more like sculptures that borrow design inspiration from local churches' architecture in the area. See more after the jump!
Lars Calmar’s figures, often bare and grotesque, carry a humanity that feels at once humorous and sincerely tortured. Even when using animals alongside his baby-like creatures and hulking brutes, the ceramic works feel as wholly human, though primal, in emotion. The artist’s sculptures have been shown in galleries and museums across the world.
There's something oddly beautiful about the work of Kansas based artist Jamie Bates Slone. Her vibrant sculptures are teaming with diseased growths and discolorations, and the effect is simultaneously fascinating and horrifying. Slone can relate to the physical and emotional impact that disease brings. "Through conjured memory, I revisit my family’s history with illness and premature death. These memories are flooded with emotion and anxiety that I use as the base of my sculptural work," she says.
The only softness to be found in the sculptures of Tamara Kostianovsky is the material. Using upcycled fabric mostly found from items in her own home—old T-shirts, worn-out sweaters, kitchen rags—Kostianovsky creates colorful sculptures that deal in death. Read the full article by Emilie Murphy by clicking above.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List