Press Releases

email: info@bmgallery.co.uk

Ken Eastman New Work

23 February to 24 March 2007

Ken Eastman‘s abstract sculptural pots are fusions of slab-built form and painterly colour. By this means he has produced an astonishing range of ceramic inventions. Some past series of pots can be characterized as rigorous clarifications of form and others as wildly energetic and surprisingly unruly; this collection of work extends his inquiries and brings new sets of dualities, oppositions and contradictions.

A number of the new pieces present themes of disruption, conflict and difficulty. There are suggestions of awkwardness and conflicting tensions between their constituent shapes. Rather than clarifying the construction, his painting frequently underpins the general sense of complexity, playing an integral role in the overall struggle. In such works everything seems at odds, restless and agitated. But they are also vital and dynamic, seeming to offer the potential of resolution.

Further oppositions are created between the dissonant form of a pot and its more lyrical painted surface, especially in his incorporation of patterns that are not quite figurative, nor quite abstract. Such designs represent a new departure and arise from Eastman‘s study of the Imari patterns, of Japanese origin, used by Royal Crown Derby where he is currently doing some work.

Biographical notes

Born in 1960, Ken Eastman studied at Edinburgh College of Art (1979­83) and at the Royal College of Art, London (1984­87). He has exhibited internationally and won numerous prestigious awards in the field of the ceramic arts including the ŒPremio Faenzač, Italy (1995), the ŒGold Medalč at the World Ceramic Exposition, Korea (2001) and the ‘President de la Generalitat Valencia’ at the 5th Biennale International De Ceramica, Manises, Spain (2001). In 1998-99 he was awarded the Arts Foundation Fellowship in Ceramics and he was elected as a member of the International Academy of Ceramics in 2003.

His work is held in numerous public collections including: The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Montreal, Canada; Shepparton Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia; Museum Boijmans van Beunigen, Rotterdam; Landesmuseum, Stuttgart; Museu de Ceramica de Manises, Valencia; and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
For a full biography see KEN EASTMAN



For more information, transparencies, or to arrange an interview with the artist please contact

Juliana Barrett

If you are interested in being added to our mailing list and being notified of future exhibitions
email: sales@bmgallery.co.uk