Reconstructing Failure in American West Coast Ceramics
Alegria, like Ice Bucket, is made of stoneware clay and wood-fired in an anagama kiln. As with previously discussed pieces, it also engages with the notion of failure. Like Gallas Rock, Alegria was made using a deconstructive approach that involves using the potter’s wheel in an unconventional way. Instead of creating symmetrical vessels whose forms are largely completed upon the potter’s wheel itself, Alegria is constructed from four cylindrical forms that are broken apart and stacked on top of one another. Subsequently, Voulkos would push the material from the inside out in order to distort their symmetrical shapes.
In addition, the failure of Alegria to attain a perfect form is deconstructive because it exposes the fact that large ceramic pots are often a composite of multiple, wheel-thrown forms. This is a fact that is often disguised by potters who would carefully hide the joint areas between the different sections in order to present the illusion of a “perfect” vessel.
By intentionally revealing the joints in Alegria and exhibiting them as a crucial aesthetic element in his work, Voulkos intentionally “failed” to achieve traditional western European notions of beauty. However, it is precisely by exposing elements that would otherwise be read as “flaws” that Voulkos was able to forge his distinct, rugged-looking style.
On top of its imperfect appearance, Algeria is pieced together with clay forms connected in an asymmetrical formation. As the pieces do not fit perfectly next to each other, this results in multiple gaps that pass through its clay body. In other words, Algeria references the clay vessel-form, but paradoxically fails to hold water. Another ironic point is that even though vessels are designed for easy transportation, Algeria stands at 49 inches from the ground, making it too large and heavy to be easily carried. These unexpected contradictions can be puzzling for viewers, who may be placed in a state of defamiliarization.
This sense of of defamiliarization reflected in Alegria resonates closely with the paradoxical nature of the Zen koan, a riddle used by monks to uproot themselves from a mundane frame of thinking about and looking at the world. In addition to its non-functional nature, Alegria reflects sculptural qualities. This can be puzzling because the production process is tied to the ceramic vessel-form, rather than the expansive possibilities of sculpture.
The answer behind these contradictions can be found in the pluralistic Zen approach towards art, which sees all forms of art, from Japanese archery to flower arrangement, as being equal to one another. This approach stands in stark contrast to the hierarchical structure of traditional western European fine art, which favors painting and sculpture over the ceramic medium.
The Zen disregard for hierarchy can be read as a potential source of inspiration for Voulkos’ view of sculpture and vessel forms. Though he himself acknowledged that his ceramic vessel-forms possessed sculptural qualities, he was careful to draw a distinct line between his vessel-forms and sculptures. The ceramist, who was keenly aware of the power dynamic existing between the vessel and sculpture form, once commented:
…most of the forms I make refer to pottery. That’s why I call them vessels, even though they have sculptural qualities. If it has an opening, if it can receive…it is a pottery form…Sculpture is a different way of thinking…they’re both important.
This way of thinking is unprecedented in the context of western art history, in which vessels are seen as everyday commodities and therefore not fine art. In other words, the ceramic artist’s refusal to refer to his vessels as sculptures can be interpreted as Voulkos’ attempt to legitimize the ceramic vessel-form as an object worthy of aesthetic contemplation.
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