Mapping the Form by Tom Spleth
October 29, 2011
Tom Spleth delivers an intriguing new direction in his work to MudFire Gallery for his solo show. The pieces are large works, some are closed forms remnisicient of standing stones or monuments. Others are open at the top, explicitly referencing the vase and ceramics history. They are created with a fascinating process involving multiple iterations of molds and plaster models, and painting the interior of the final mold prior to casting the object.
We'll kick off the exhibit with a celebration on October 29, 2011 from 5:00 - 9:00 pm.
Work will post in preview mode by October 24, and will be available for purchase starting 10:00 am on Saturday, October 29, 2011.
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More About Mapping the Form by Tom Spleth
Tom's cutting edge ceramic explorations start with a puddle of wet, fluid, plaster on the floor. As the material starts to set, he scoops and slashes and paddles the plaster, and a solid vertical form starts to appear and harden. He has eight to ten minutes where the plaster is workable, during which he must work quickly and intuitively.
He makes a waste mold from the original form, then casts a solid plaster model from the mold. This model is further refined, with a final production mold created from it. He slip casts large-scale porcelain objects from this final mold. Some are closed and remniscient of standing stones or monuments; and with others the tops are open and explicitly referencing pottery, a vase, and ceramic history.
The forms are decorated using a process similiar to monoprinting. Pigment is applied to the interior of the molds prior to casting, and the cast object lifts the print off the mold. Tom's goal is not so much to decorate the form, but rather, to apply marks in such a way that the marks describe something about the form. The marks are an extension of the form, in that they comment about the relationship between parts of the form and how the form is made.