Joshua Aubrook

His interest in ceramics started when he was fortunate enough to go to a school in Canterbury, Kent that still had a large functional studio devoted to ceramics. An exceptional teacher allowed him to spend breaks and lunchtimes making in the studio.

There he felt for the first time he was in control of the material and not just following a set procedure. Later he went on to study a BA (Hons) Degree at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham.

Since discovering ceramics, there was never an option for him not to be a ceramicist. Once he began to throw myself into making he changed to become a different person, growing more confident. Today, for almost three years, he has shared a studio with friends in South East London. For them It’s great, as there are lots of natural light, which is important.

He has found the British ceramics tradition is huge, and underappreciated. Inspired by the work of Edward Beer Fishley and the country pottery school that pre-dated Leach’s ‘East’. The slipware, creamware and encaustic styles that grew during the medieval period and were refined by generations speak to him. British pottery talks, it expresses and communicates through its pattern, its inlaid writing and its humor. When he sees one of Fishley’s tankards he can imagine the old man smiling while he made it wearing his wonky hat, it paints a vivid mental picture.

His work explores modern panic surrounding the concept of an end, the unknown tomorrow. Eschatology, survivalism and the narratives built around loss inspire him to play with interpretations of what a devastated reality may look like visually. The stories, often reference his love of collage and Jumpstyle, aiming to capture an absurdity to annihilation.

The work is sculpture with ceramics to articulate these ideas. Enjoying free forms from his imagination and setting them in clay.

nstagram: joshua.aubrook www.joshuaaubrookceramics.com