CLEO MUSSI BOODY WARE
CLEO MUSSI: BOODY WARE 2 - 30 APRIL 2016
The Scottish Gallery is delighted to present Boody Ware - a solo exhibition from Cleo Mussi. Cleo studied textiles at Goldsmiths College, London where her interest in recycled fabrics, knowledge of pattern, print, weave and stitch led her into working with reclaimed ceramic. Cleo has created an installation of life size figurative elements re-formed from ceramic discard. She has drawn influences from genetics, economics and sustainable organisations and the resulting exhibition is a story - in the traditional sense of Folk Art - reflecting the world that we live in whilst connecting to bygone days. In this exhibition we come across a mysterious mosaic world.
“Over the last thirty years I have been creating works from old crockery. It is interesting to observe how the descriptions of what I am making have changed and evolved with the fashions. In the early 1990s I was salvaging china from ceramic dumps in Stoke, but gradually this became recycling as environmental issues became more prominent. What was seen as junk is now vintage, something more desirable once it has been up-cycled, reclaimed, reworked and reformed. Mosaic made from ceramic discard is an old concept. In the early 19th century, the term ‘Boody’ or ‘Boudy’ appears in the Northumberland dialect to donate a piece of broken china.
Originally collected and used as playthings for children, by the late 19th century, ‘Boody Ware’ was used to decorate plates, jugs, vases and boxes and became quite the fashion. I think of myself as a modern day folk artist, so ‘Boody Ware’ is a perfect description for the technique I use.
All Consuming, Nature Recycles Everything and Sucking The Gut are a comment and observation on man’s evolution within our environment and our impact on the environment and each other as we desire to collect and consume. We go through a narrative of life size figures exploring energy consumption, agricultural practice, and finally the savings banks for the Genome.” Cleo Mussi, 2016
“To market, to market With my little basket To buy bonds and shares And a homogenized franchise To market, to market To buy a free market With plenty of debt And fictional targets. What ‘sports’are we To hunt and gather ‘For too much of a good thing Is not a good thing’ at all.” Cleo Mussi, 2016
All Consuming, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H113 x W72 cms ÂŁ4,500
Nature Recycles Everything, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H113 x W70 cms ÂŁ4,500
“In a ‘silent Spring’, We the keepers of ‘spaceship earth’, are building life from the bottom up, Where waste = food and Nature recycles everything. Cleo Mussi, 2016
“In the age of giants Corporate junk science Filter bubbles, Whilst sucking the guts For greater GDP” Cleo Mussi, 2016
Sucking the Gut, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H113 x W94 cms ÂŁ4,500
Large Collector’s Basket with Bee, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H72 x W53 cms £790
Right: Bombus Spiritus Snow White, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H22 x W30 cms ÂŁ295
Left: Bombus Spiritus Johnson Brothers, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H22 x W30 cms ÂŁ295
Below: Bombus Spiritus Staffordshire, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H22 x W30 cms ÂŁ295
Upper: Shrine To Birds, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H12 x W23 cms £165
Shrine To Water, 2016 found and discarded ceramics W16 x D15 cms £145
Lower: Shrine To Flowering Plants, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H12 x W23 cms £165
Savings Bank - Butterflies, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H35 x W48 cms ÂŁ635
Shrine To Insects, 2016 found and discarded ceramics D14 cms ÂŁ145
Systema Lables: Butterflies and Moths (upper), Ants (middle), Flies (lower), 2016 found and discarded ceramics with cotton H6 x W11 cms ÂŁ45 each
Savings Bank - Beetles, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H35 x W48 cms ÂŁ635
Large Bouquet in Blue, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H27 x W27 cms ÂŁ365
Large Strange Fruit Branch, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H88 x W58 cms ÂŁ790
Savings Bank - Birds, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H35 x W48 cms ÂŁ635
Asparagus with Orange Binding, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H27 x W16 cms ÂŁ245
Broccoli with Dots, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H21 x W14 cms ÂŁ245
Corn Cob with Dark Kernel, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H28 x W10 cms £235
Cauliflower, 2014 found and discarded ceramics D20 cms £230
Homunculus Baby 2, with Circadian Clock, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H31 x W39 cms ÂŁ420
Homunculus Baby 3, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H31 x W39 cms ÂŁ420
Last Unified Common Ancestor, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H31 x W39 cms ÂŁ420
My Little Basket DNA Kit, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H33 x W26 cms ÂŁ390
Tussie Mussie 1, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H20 x W15 cms ÂŁ195
Tussie Mussie 2, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H20 x W15 cms ÂŁ195
Tussie Mussie 3, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H20 x W15 cms ÂŁ195
Phrenological Head, Memories, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H38 x W33 cms ÂŁ650
Dove With Blue Flowers, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H30 x W41 cms ÂŁ485
Systema Lables: Bees (upper), Beetles (lower), 2016 found and discarded ceramics with cotton H6 x W11 cms ÂŁ45 each
Yellow Heart, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H15 x W11 cms £95 Red Heart, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H15 x W11 cms £95
Dove With Red Flowers, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H30 x W41 cms ÂŁ485
Large Bird Fork Branch (detail), 2015 found and discarded ceramics H143 x W57 cms ÂŁ790
Blue Heart, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H15 x W11 cms ÂŁ95
Pink Heart, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H15 x W11 cms £95 White Heart, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H15 x W11 cms £95
Hand 1, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H19 x W11 cms ÂŁ125
Cute Spaniel 1, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H20 x W13 cms ÂŁ195
Cute Star 2, 2016 found and discarded ceramics H34 x W13 cms ÂŁ230
Cute Piggy Soli 1, 2014 found and discarded ceramics H29 x W13 cms £230
Cute Dreams, 2015 found and discarded ceramics H28 x W11 cms £230
Left: Cute Space Panda, 2012 found and discarded ceramics, H25 x W14 cms £230 Right: No.3 Panda Pod, 2014 found and discarded ceramics, H36 x W29 cms £360
Left: Cute Space Lion, 2014 found and discarded ceramics, H28 x W11 cms £230 Right: No.7 Lion Pod, 2014 found and discarded ceramics, H42 x W31 cms £360
CLEO MUSSI b.1965 Education 1985-1988 Goldsmiths College Selected Solo Exhibitions 2016 The Scottish Gallery, Boody Ware 2016 Anthropologie, King’s Road, London, In The Gallery ‘Rabbit Manufactury 2014 The Museum in the Park, Stroud, All Consuming 2013 The Scottish Gallery, Mussi’s Magic Toy Shop 2012 Corinium Museum, A Face Book 2009-12 Touring 8 venues, Pharma’s Market 2008-11 Touring 6 venues, A - Z, A Hand Book 2008 Egg, Knightsbridge, London, Mutants 2007 Rochester Art Gallery, Bring In the Green 2002-5 Touring 9 venues, The Crowd 1992 Royal Festival Hall, London, Salvaged Selected Public Commissions 2015 Primrose Solar, London, Solar Man 2007 3 Ways School, Glos. small niche scenes 2005 St Thomas’s Hospital, London Wall panels. 2005 BBC Radio Leicester & The Asian Network 64m2 2004 Gloucester Hospital, Panels for Maternity Unit 2003 Fired Earth, Artist in Residence 2001 John Lewis Partnership,Solihull,175sq.m. 1999 Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, 8sq.m. 1998 Colchester Hospital, 8sq.m, ‘Cool Zillij’,’ Arched Air’. 1996 Co-Op Retail Services H.Q. figurines Selected Public Collections Carlton Television Crafts Council Collection Co-Op Retail services HQ
Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition BOODY WARE 2 - 30 April 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.