Art Formes presents
clay formes
contemporary clay from south africa
Our recently published book, CLAY FORMES, is the first volume of its kind dedicated to contemporary clay and ceramics from South Africa. This publication offers enthusiasts and collectors a glimpse into the studios of thirty important South African artists and opens a window into the complexity of each body of work, revealing the richness of both contemporary clay and ceramic tradition within South African art.
CLAY FORMES
AN ART FORMES PUBLICATION
This volume explores the studios of thirty contemporary South African artists, through exquisite photography and rich literary essays, pushing the bounds of clay as art form.
This original publication was born out of countless hours of conversation with artists such as Hylton Nel, Ian Garrett, Andile Dyalvane, Ruan Hoffmann, Zizipho Poswa, Madoda Fani, Katherine Glenday, Jabulile Nala, Belinda Blignaut, Marlene Steyn, Ben Orkin, Hennie Meyer and Lucinda Mudge amongst others.
Subscribe to the Art Formes newsletter to receive details about our upcoming book launches and events, both in South Africa and Europe.
ARTISTS
Art Formes presents a collection of clay and ceramic artworks, now available to purchase, from innovative contemporary South African artists, pushing the sculptural and conceptual limits of what the medium of clay can do.
Katherine Glenday
Porcelain as painting with light
“The material, imaginary, and interpersonal resonances of porcelain have remained central to Katherine Glenday’s practice since the early 1980s. The artist’s vessels defy categorisation, extending into the most translucent edges of what we think porcelain should be able to do and coming into being in the blur between ‘the sacred’ and the kitchen sink…”
Jabulile Nala
Innovations to zulu ceramic tradition
“Hailing from one of the foremost families of Zulu ceramics, Jabulile Nala bears the memory of a line of female ceramicists that can be traced back to 1900. Born in KwaZulu-Natal, and rooted in the traditions of her mother, Nesta Nala, Jabulile creates vessels which spiral from their origin point in the Zulu clay heritage, at once incorporating and defying traditions…”
Clay, previously overlooked, presents itself as a powerful medium of expression within the landscape of contemporary South African art. It has been a means of radical experimentation and technical innovation for many decades in South Africa.
ZANOXOLO S. MQEKU
AFRICA’S FIRST PIONEERING SAND-CAST CERAMICS
“Mqeku pours molten clay into carved sand casts to create these almost terrestrial works. Spearheading the potentialities of clay, sand, and metal, Mqeku’s work emerges in part from a gestating Master’s dissertation. Against clay, copper, chrome, red iron oxide, and rutile dioxides transcend their material bounds, becoming more than metal. The artist speaks of sand, metal, and clay as a Holy Trinity. This corpus, like a meteorite hunk from a distant Earth, dreams of a home far away…”
SIYABONGA FANI
CERAMIC VESSELS WITH TWO SKINS
“Working with clay since the late 1990s, Fani’s work bears the smell of smoke, pit-fired in the alleyway outside the studio in Woodstock, Cape Town. Fani hand-coils his pieces, working intuitively, drawing forms from the bodies of trees, the rivers and the human beings who make lives from the earth. There is the yearning for the pastoral mirage of the rural homeland and the desire to hold the land tenderly. And, with the same impulse, there is the nostalgia for the bustle and hum and dialects of the township…”
Alistair Blair
Haikus in clay
“Dense and dynamic, this most recent body of work signals a departure from Alistair Blair’s signature delicate and controlled porcelain ware. The scored and twisted clay skins, the edible chalky grey. Inspired by the non-ethos found in Taoist and wabi-sabi philosophies, Blair has formed his approach by asking an answerless question…”
Hennie Meyer
A series of 400g of clay
“Meyer’s career-long commitment to experimentation gives rise to a body of work adept at shape-shifting. In warm earthenware and the artist’s own milky glazes, each piece revolves around 400g. This is the defining parameter – beyond it, the scope extends anywhere. Repeated and repeated, the white cube stretches into the form that rises…”
clay formes
contemporary clay from south africa
Through published literature and exhibitions, Art Formes aims to bring attention to the medium of clay within contemporary South African art.
CLAY FORMES
AN ART FORMES PUBLICATION
This volume explores the studios of thirty contemporary South African artists, through exquisite photography and rich literary essays, pushing the bounds of clay as art form.
This original publication was born out of countless hours of conversation with artists such as Hylton Nel, Ian Garrett, Andile Dyalvane, Ruan Hoffmann, Zizipho Poswa, Madoda Fani, Katherine Glenday, Jabulile Nala, Belinda Blignaut, Marlene Steyn, Ben Orkin, Hennie Meyer and Lucinda Mudge amongst others.
ARTISTS
Art Formes presents a collection of clay and ceramic artworks, now available to purchase, from innovative contemporary South African artists, pushing the sculptural and conceptual limits of what the medium of clay can do.
Katherine Glenday
Porcelain as painting with light
“The material, imaginary, and interpersonal resonances of porcelain have remained central to Katherine Glenday’s practice since the early 1980s. The artist’s vessels defy categorisation, extending into the most translucent edges of what we think porcelain should be able to do and coming into being in the blur between ‘the sacred’ and the kitchen sink…”
Jabulile Nala
Innovations to zulu ceramic tradition
“Hailing from one of the foremost families of Zulu ceramics, Jabulile Nala bears the memory of a line of female ceramicists that can be traced back to 1900. Born in KwaZulu-Natal, and rooted in the traditions of her mother, Nesta Nala, Jabulile creates vessels which spiral from their origin point in the Zulu clay heritage, at once incorporating and defying traditions…”
ZANOXOLO S. MQEKU
AFRICA’S FIRST PIONEERING SAND-CAST CERAMICS
“Mqeku pours molten clay into carved sand casts to create these almost terrestrial works. Spearheading the potentialities of clay, sand, and metal, Mqeku’s work emerges in part from a gestating Master’s dissertation. Against clay, copper, chrome, red iron oxide, and rutile dioxides transcend their material bounds, becoming more than metal. The artist speaks of sand, metal, and clay as a Holy Trinity. This corpus, like a meteorite hunk from a distant Earth, dreams of a home far away…”
SIYABONGA FANI
CERAMIC VESSELS WITH TWO SKINS
“Working with clay since the late 1990s, Fani’s work bears the smell of smoke, pit-fired in the alleyway outside the studio in Woodstock, Cape Town. Fani hand-coils his pieces, working intuitively, drawing forms from the bodies of trees, the rivers and the human beings who make lives from the earth. There is the yearning for the pastoral mirage of the rural homeland and the desire to hold the land tenderly. And, with the same impulse, there is the nostalgia for the bustle and hum and dialects of the township…”
Alistair Blair
Haikus in clay
“Dense and dynamic, this most recent body of work signals a departure from Alistair Blair’s signature delicate and controlled porcelain ware. The scored and twisted clay skins, the edible chalky grey. Inspired by the non-ethos found in Taoist and wabi-sabi philosophies, Blair has formed his approach by asking an answerless question…”
Hennie Meyer
A series of 400g of clay
“Meyer’s career-long commitment to experimentation gives rise to a body of work adept at shape-shifting. In warm earthenware and the artist’s own milky glazes, each piece revolves around 400g. This is the defining parameter – beyond it, the scope extends anywhere. Repeated and repeated, the white cube stretches into the form that rises…”
CLAY FORMES
we ship worldwide
from south africa
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