Deconstructing Failure: The Ceramic Works of Peter VoulkosMain MenuAcknowledgementsBreaking the Abstract Expressionist NarrativeDeconstructing Classical Western TraditionsEmbodiment, Performativity and Process.Anagama Wood Firing - Embracing Chance and the Controlled Accident.Japanese Zen Ceramics – Asymmetry, Imperfection and DestructionReconstructing Failure in American West Coast CeramicsConclusionBiographyYi Shan Tan18adf3fd37f9082549183b8cf7039ef2c08e82d5
Abstract
12016-05-25T02:32:01-07:00Yi Shan Tan18adf3fd37f9082549183b8cf7039ef2c08e82d597051plain2016-05-25T02:32:02-07:00Yi Shan Tan18adf3fd37f9082549183b8cf7039ef2c08e82d5Peter Voulkos is an American West Coast Ceramist who is best remembered today as an Abstract Expressionist hero. Instead of perpetuating this ongoing narrative however, my paper compares his work to lesser-known creative influences, such as American avant-garde composer John Cage, dancer Merce Cunningham, Japanese potter Shoji Hamada and not least, Zen ceramics. In doing so, I argue that that it is more productive to see Voulkos as a revolutionary figure who strategically employed failure, performance and deconstructive techniques in a way that is medium specific to ceramics. Also, I will examine how Voulkos’ clay pieces employ the notion of paradox in order to complicate and challenge accepted preconceptions of ceramics and its perceived relationship to function. In doing so, he reframed the clay vessel as an aesthetic object in its own right and ultimately, established ceramics as an autonomous medium.
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1media/1967NERegionFair_35slide_0080.jpg2016-05-10T23:10:14-07:00Yi Shan Tan18adf3fd37f9082549183b8cf7039ef2c08e82d5Deconstructing Failure: The Ceramic Works of Peter VoulkosYi Shan Tan7splash2016-05-25T04:59:34-07:00Yi Shan Tan18adf3fd37f9082549183b8cf7039ef2c08e82d5