THE METAMORPHOSIS OF
SOUTH AFRICAN CLAY ARTISTS
RMB Latitudes Art fair, published june 2023
“Two years ago, recognising the astonishment of talent among South African artists working with clay, Olivia Barrell decided it was time to – figuratively speaking – get her hands dirty. A Sorbonne-trained art historian with auction house experience cataloguing classical Asian ceramics, Barrell, who lives in Cape Town, launched Art Formes, an online platform devoted to celebrating clay and its diverse proponents. Art Formes has rapidly carved out a niche for itself, in part due to its enthusiastic writing style and striking photography, but its chief draw is its artist-centric approach to documenting a zeitgeist medium…”
Art Formes presents
Clay Formes
contemporary clay from south africa
CLAY FORMES is the first of its kind: a survey of contemporary clay from South Africa, pushed to its highest form of sculptural expression. This volume, through exquisite photography and literary essays, showcases multiple generations of living South African artists, each innovating the potentialities of clay and ceramics. 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.
Art Formes was founded in 2021 to showcase sculptural form within contemporary South African art through published literature. Art Formes begins its journey where it likely all began, with clay. Our first publication, CLAY FORMES, which has been two years in the making, is finally ready to purchase.