Antonio Fois
RCA 2021
Artist Statement
Questioning hierarchies and their boundaries are my current concerns.
I am fascinated by the interrelation between societies and their territories, stemming from my previous studies in Human Geography and from Buddhism, which is central to my life and practice. Confronting different perspectives and semantic codes enables me to acquire a critical voice - deconstructing the aesthetic and methodological views incorporated in my experience.
Ceramic processes are amongst the most ancient technologies in human history. To ensure their survival, enduring traditions have been reinforced. In particular, the dichotomy between surface and shape has been at the core of the field, which still defines and connotes the existing context.
My practice explores that liminal space to redefine the perception of structure/ façade. I combine traditional hand-building and casting processes with experimentation using glazes and glass as part of the body. I am also speculatively exploring different materials at greater scale for site-specific projects.
Foreword
Having reflected upon displacement in my dissertation, my attention was engaged in investigating the subjective perception and its interpretation, particularly looking at the possible readings in regard to cultural contexts and semiotics. The essence of displacement implies a change of one’s position and consequently, the alteration of one’s perspective. “The uncomfortable feeling of displacement is probably the exceptional experience of being familiar and comfortable with a specific code, being part of the community, and at the same time have a critical look of your perceived vision, within the context”.[Hew Locke, studio international interview] Other than looking at differences, my interest is focused on recognising the existence of symbiotics relationships between the self and the context, no matter circumstances. This awareness naturally repositions the self in a condition that is not detached from the space that is inhabited and consequently revolutionises the perception and interpretation of it. This recognition enabled me to question my methodology. I had the opportunity to be part of a collaborative drawing workshop which allowed myself to loosen the relation between eyes and hands, freeing the creative process from both the expectation of adhering to a preordained idea and the conditional response caused by the prior aesthetical interpretation. Background: Bran Bogart, La ferme, 1978.
Questioning the collections became very relevant in recent times. It has been a great opportunity to investigate the role that an object might fulfil and how it can change in relation to the context. I’ve been looking closely at this Chinese ewer from the Shandong province made in 2500 BC, part of the V&A museum collection. The Shandong region at that time was technologically exceptionally advanced. The first yet Chinese pictograms have been found in that area. Acknowledging that in Asia calligraphy is the archetype of any kind of art, I was fascinated by the Chinese writing and
水,a plinth for water how it has evolved in time. One of the oldest pictograms depicting “Water” reminds surprisingly to the shape of the ewer, which is an epitome for teapots, a traditional model amazingly reproduced for centuries trough China and the rest of the continent. I wanted to respond by making a piece that would preserve the ostensible relation between the written sign and the object, the representation of the substance and the container. 水, a plinth for water, is a metonymy that questions the perceived hierarchies interrogating what should be elevated or considered higher, enhancing the significance of water in contemporary societies.
Stoneware, 20 x 20 x 35cm.
Time-Space-Traces
This project considers time fro perspective, exploring its duali time, the potential, and the t actual - and the possibility dialogue between these two aspe
I’ve experienced decay and transi by combining layers of differ either in the body, as a series in the surface.
Emulating sedimentation and eros different clays and slips to cre mass which I’ve later defined loo forms inspired by ancient Sar statues Giants of Mont’e Prama.
I’ve been experimenting with eng to create my own material langu from a selected palette that h visual research from Pompei fres Bacon painting.
A speculative installation possibility of arranging a circl where, without hierarchies, ever expresses its own identity whil to the dialogues ignited by the The time is shaped by the natu sundial. Solid stoneware, slips, engobes, oxides, glazes, 20 x 10 x 30cm.
om a subjective ity: the infinite time being, the of initiate a ects.
ition processes rent materials s of strata and
gobes and glazes uage, developed has informed my scos to Francis
considers the le of monoliths ry single piece le contributing e position. ural light as a
Watercolour, 20 x 20cm.
sion I’ve added eate a shapeless oking at totemic rdinian marble .
functioning results preconceptions and p Wanting to personall I started questionin a very detailed plan shape. With this pro brain and instead of almost a decade, I a improvisation, on a I am also challengi I reckon were strong have embedded throug The result of this ex shape that triggere together with mine, a sense of displacem for.
What fascinates me moments when the tran Indeed, I am captivat and redefining the co the agreement that f
A wondrous creature
s. Equally, it contains and reiterates pre-ordered results. ly discover my own bias and presumptions ng my methodology. I would usually make n and then I would eventually reach that oject I have been trying to deceive my f reproducing what I have been doing for am building objects in a manner based on step-by-step decision-making process. ing the aesthetical expectations which gly influenced by the visual language I gh my experience. xperiment led me to produce an undefinable ed the interpretation of the viewers, questioning the perception and evoking ment/uncanny which is what I was looking
are the clashes in communication, the nsmission of information is challenged. ted by situations where re-establishing ode becomes urgent in order to resettle founds the convention of any idiom.
Stoneware, Parian, engobes, 70 x 50 x 40cm.
In ceramics the necessity of confronting yourself, as a maker, with the physicality of the means is inescapable. Gravity is a force that must be considered while conceiving a piece. Consequently, is quite natural to apply already tested strategies to achieve the result envisaged. Quite easily the experience acquired becomes a habit that helps to shortens the time in the making and helps to have
Glass, stoneware, 25 x 15 x 10cm.
Symbiosis Symbiosis is a work in progress material led process which investigates the interrelation between ceramics and glass in assorted forms. Blowing, slumping and casting are techniques that I am combining and adapting to create complementary objects both in glass and ceramics. I had the opportunity to spend a week in a glass foundry where I experimented in dept these processes to create shapes which visually express the idea of interdependence. It is an intuitive process where the outcomes are not always predictable considering that the materials behave in different ways. Part of the making is related to the heat in the kiln which is not accurately manageable. Conceptually, part of the agency is related to the process which creates the space for a new aesthetic.
Tin wire, Jubilee clip, 4 x 4 x 3cm.
The pandemic brought us in a condition where priorities have been shuffled. The notion of value and in particular the value of life has appeared to be defined by demographics. I have chosen to reinterpret the pound coin which represents the gauge of value, by assembling available non-precious materials to highlight the potential inherent in every kind of resource.
Wooden embroidery hoop,metal mesh, cotton yarn, 25 x 25 x 0.5cm.
Are we expendable?
Porcelain, metal wire, 30 x 15 x 2cm.
free from judgement
Stoneware, 150 x 100cm.
Learning new drawing met process from rational contr an interesting connotatio part of the inquiry about between shape and surface I the two-dimensional draw object both in wire and in
t
thods to free the rol made me discover on of the line. As t the liminal space wanted to translate wn line into a 3D n clay.
There is much to be said on boredom and failure - or the avoidance of the former and fear of the latter in the making of art. This is other than the artist’s intention of engaging the viewer’s interest, rather of the interest of the work for the artist. The aim of not making boring art arises from the desire to avoid being bored, and yet many of the processes and procedures of art-making are boring: laborious, repetitive, wearisome and, yet, necessary. Perhaps this is more to do with creating a (mental) space where nothing much happens in order that something unexpected might occur, an essential stillness through which the peripheral, the overlooked, the liminal, might inform the imagining consciousness. [Indeterminacy and (Dis)order in the work of Cy Twombly, Jon Bird, OXFORD ART JOURNAL 30. 3 2007]