Michael Fargo & Tessa Eastman at Puls Contemporary Ceramics 11/03/2017 - 15/04/201
For the next exhibition, Puls is delighted to introduce a new body of work by two dynamic women at the vanguard of the British contemporary ceramic art scene.
Both artists are London based and MA graduates of London's Royal College of Art. In their relatively short career they have been able to impress many with their originality, skill and above all with a daring new approach to the art form.
TESSA EASTMAN (United Kingdom, 1984)
The meticulously hand built cloud bundles and complex crystal formations created by Tessa Eastman have found a serious following among collectors and gallery owners. Each one of her pieces appears curiously alive with movement. Building her shapes Eastman draws inspiration from organic forms as seen through a microscope. The artist explores the strangeness of growth of natural phenomena in which systems flow and digress from an intended pattern. She subsequently attempts to translate her findings in colourful glazed ceramics. Grouping her works highlights the contrast and creates a dialogue between pieces whereby negative space is valued as much as positive space.
While creating she looks for contrasts such as soft and hard, order and chaos, geometry and irregularity. Eastman: " I aim to fix ungraspable states such as fleeting clouds, which represent both the ideal and the perishable, the doom and the fantasy.".
Eastman calls herself 'a modeler at heart' and it is through sensitivity to form and glaze that her pieces become animated. Much time is therefore invested in glaze research and testing. Eastman: "Colour is inspiring to me and it can help create distinction between form and shape. Matt and shiny, coarse and smooth and hot and cool coloured glazes are used to offer depth of character to a work".
MICHAL FARGO (Israel, 1984)
A couple of years ago, while still living and working in Israel, Fargo took a radical approach to ceramics; she started ripping blocks of spongy foam into shapes or cutting them coarsely with a knife. She then dipped these shapes in liquid porcelain with a coloured stain and fired them. "By developing a different working technique that does not require molds I was able to design free forms that are no longer restricted by parting lines and pouring points, I was also able to get different and diverse surfaces", Fargo says. The resulting work instantly met with an eager audience of buyers and collectors from both the fine arts and the design scene, not just in the UK, but as far as Australia and South Korea.
Fargo's later experiments with foam include hollowing sponge blocks and filling these with liquids. Once fired, the vase form is dipped in intensely pigmented resin. The emerging object is uncannily organic in appearance with coral like surfaces rarely seen in ceramics.
Michal Fargo studied ceramic design at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem before moving to London where - after obtaining an MA from the Royal Academy of Arts - she now lives and works.
PULS
Puls was founded in 2000 and is the only gallery exclusively dedicated to world class contemporary ceramics in Belgium. For 17 years PULS owner Annette Sloth has offered a guiding role in building collections with art collectors worldwide. The gallery hosts 7 duo exhibitions per year, often pairing the top of the ceramic art world with emerging artists.
Press is invited to the vernissage in the presence of the artists on Saturday 11 March 2017 from 17.00 onwards. For questions, previews/ images or private interviews with the artists you are kindly requested to send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Puls Contemporary Ceramics,
Edelknaapstraat 19 Rue du Page B-1050 Brussels,
t +32 (0)2-6402655; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Open: Wednesday - Saturday 13.00-18.00 hr.
Puls Contemporary Ceramics,
Edelknaapstraat 19 Rue du Page B-1050 Brussels
