S E R B I A

Jovanna Cavorovic

Ceramist

Jovana CAVOROVIC (born 1985) lives and works in Belgrade. She draws her inspiration from nature, spaces, organic forms and textures, as well as from human ecology. Her studio practice, particularly with the Pupa porcelain series, is the result of her incubation over three years in Japan. Over time, her European training and artistic experience absorbed the nutrients of this new environment to filter through an internalised understanding of the Japanese context of ceramics. Tangible expressions of this process can be seen in the delicate inlaying of tensha transfer paper into the porcelain, and in the conscious acceptance of cracks in the repair process, referencing the tradition of kintsugi and the philosophy of wabi-sabi. The work questions firing as an end point and proposes resilience as a process. 

Jasmina Pejcic

Ceramist

Jasmina PEJCIC (born 1965) lives and works in Belgrade. Jasmina’s artistic approach focuses on the interplay between the introverted and the extroverted, the known and the unknown, the banal and the sacred, the consumable and the permanent. She favours a process of deconstructing matter and creating particles which, in a subsequent process, integrate and create new forms. Jasmina uses minimal means to extract the maximum from the material, and applies to her work the technique usually used in making ceramic sculptures. Often linked to the reality in which we live, her creations open up a different perspective on the world around us, sometimes as a form of protection and ‘disinfection’. 
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Bojana Ristevski Mlaker

Ceramist

Bojana RISTEVSKI-MLAKER (born 1985) lives and works between Belgrade (Serbia) and Ljubljana (Slovenia). For her, ceramics is the medium for research into the fluidity of drawn forms and traces interacting with the ceramic surface. Drawing always represents the initial phase; through this process, she treats the way in which the human form is constituted and configured, as it appears on ceramic surfaces. Line drawings on sculptural forms and discrete surfaces in relief underline the nature of bodily movement that is characteristic of much of her work. 

Velimir Vukicevic

Ceramist

Velimir VUKICEVIC (born 1950) lives and works in Belgrade. He teaches ceramic sculpture at the Belgrade University of Art. His sculptures are often inspired by nature and organic forms. Personal circumstances have led him to develop his creative process towards design, based on various forms that he has created and worked out beforehand, and which he uses in series as a material for painting. Velimir tries to master the illusion of trompe-l’œil and explores the relationship between form and colour, giving free rein to his imagination. One of his favourite forms is the cloud, a symbol of impermanence, movement, ephemerality and change, which are fundamental phenomena of life and our existence. 

Ljubica Jocic Knezevic

Ceramist

Ljubica JOCIC-KNEZEVIC (born 1973) lives and works in Belgrade. For her, porcelain is a means of expressing and shaping ideas, with which she creates her unique, monochrome world. The interwoven, dynamic structures with which Ljubica constructs her works, the abstract forms, the contrasts of black and white porcelain combine tradition and innovation, the influences of Eastern and Western cultures, producing astonishing results in terms of aesthetics and content. The products of a dual connection that is both rational and intuitive, the starting point for the development of each of his works lies in the very possibility of recognising, liberating and surpassing one’s own limits. 

Valentina Savic

Ceramist

Valentina SAVIC (born 1970) lives and works in Belgrade. Through her conceptual installations, she has developed innovative approaches that are a blend of the ancient and the contemporary. She works mainly with porcelain, recognisable by her installations which combine traditional porcelain casting with sculptures and other media. Her sculptures are a response and reaction to imposed identities, systems and structures, questioning what is socially acceptable, offered and allowed to humans today, as well as the values established in contemporary society. 

M A L T A

Paul SCERRI

Ceramist

Paul Scerri is an artist of a few words.   He excels in creating intrigue, and in depicting stereotypical characters, whilst delicately adding notions of injustice and narcissism. His sculptures are free to individual interpretations. 

Paul HABER

Ceramist

Although intrinsically simple in form, Paul's works invoke a power which belies the seemingly effortless, building techniques culminating in the final creation. His choice of glazes whether in bright or muted hues, or even the lack of glazing, when he is impelled to use the natural colours of his different clay bodies as his canvas, are in perfect harmony, complementing the inspired idea exposed to the viewer in a myriad of forms and shapes at times deformed or purposely distorted to engage his audience and stimulate viewers to give the art piece their own personal
interpretation. 

Victor AGIUS

Ceramist, painter

His practice demonstrates a direct affinity with the earth and the natural elements which are clearly demonstrated in his continuous research about primitive rudiments and rituals and also man’s incessant rapport with nature, time and his own existence. 

His main inspiration is man’s relation with the earth and how we consume it for spiritual, ritualistic and for everyday reasons. In his ceramic works he normally uses a mixture of stoneware (gres) clays which is sometimes fused with the local clay of my island to reference the primitive and prehistoric ceramic heritage tradition of Ggantija Unesco site while creating a primordial dialogue using his organic and gestural forms with his own hands. 

Gabriel CARUANA

Ceramist

Gabriel Cruana (1929 – 2018) was a Maltese artist who worked primarily in ceramics. Gabriel Caruana was a pioneer of modern art in Malta, drawing inspiration from popular art traditions and the architecture of the Island.

J A P A N

Showsi TSUKAMOTO

Ceramist and Kintsugi Master

Showzi Tsukamoto is a Maki-e master and metal sculptor awarded by the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy Foundation. He has worked for the largest companies, in particular for Chanel in Tokyo for which he made a table in Kintsugi. He is also a designer of art jewelery made from the most precious materials.

Tea Master, he has spent 50 years of his life studying Urushi lacquer, the Maki-e technique and traditional Kintsugi as has been done since the 16th century.

All the pieces exhibited during the biennal were from the personal and family collection of Showzi Tsukamoto. They are all certified ancient ceramics dating from the 16th to the 18th century (Edo Period) and repaired with Urushi lacquer and 24k fine gold by the Kintsugi technique.

Rizu TAKAHASHI

Ceramsit

Rizü Takahashi settled in France in 2004. He originates from the mountain of Mizunami, a high place of ceramics in Japan. Rizü Takahashi strongly impresses with the peace and silence and the strength that emerge from his productions.

Totally out of time, his ceramics could come from an archaeological dig with 13,000 year old Japanese pottery, or come from a distant future not yet invented, creations in a present of eternity.
 

Born in 1941 in Hiroshima, Rizü Takahashi was immersed from childhood in traditional Japanese culture. With the taste of antiques, ikebana and the art of gardens received from his parents, he took courses of calligraphy and singing. Painter at the age of 18, he began to study ceramics and the ceremony of tea with “Living Treasure” Jyuemon Kato.
For four years, he became a monk in a temple in Tokyo where he
practiced Zen philosophy with the great Master Wayu Eda.
He also immersed himself in avant-garde theater and traditional theater No.
At the age of 40, he devoted himself to ceramics by retiring
with his Master in the mountains of Nagano. Later he
practiced his art on a mountain of Mizunami in the region of
Mino, land of potters.
Love made him settle in the south of France in 2004 with a tour of
stick and a handful of his potter's tools. He built his studio, his tea pavilion and above all a anagama kiln.
Warmly surrounded by his students, he continues today his
creations by mixing traditional Japanese techniques and
the modernity of his inspiration. 

Kazuhito KAWAI

Ceramist

Born in 1984 in Ibaraki, Japan. Kawai studied contemporary art at Chelsea College of Art in London (BA.HONS) Fine Art, 2007). After returning to Japan, he studied ceramics at the Ibaraki Prefectural College of Ceramics, graduating in 2018 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. He currently lives and works in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Solo exhibitions include "The Kitsch" (t.gallery Tokyo, 2019), "Freaks" (House in Kasama, Ibaraki, 2017), "Show Me with LOOP feeling" (contemporary art, Sokyo, Kyoto, 2020), "Full Frontal Naked Circulator" (Mitsukoshi Contemporary Art Gallery, Tokyo (2020), "±8 - Contemporary Ceramics" (The Shop Taka Ishii Gallery, Hong Kong, 2019), among others. He has also exhibited at national and international art fairs such as Art Kyoto (2019), Art Basel in Miami Beach (2019), Frieze Los Angels (2020), and Art Basel (2020). One of his major collections is the Takahashi Collection.
After studying contemporary art, his encounter with the medium of ceramics was an experience that liberated his creativity and led him to a breakthrough. Characterized by dynamic colors and shapes, his ceramic works show various expressions of irregularity, ugliness, grotesqueness, and fragility, revealing the inner self brought out by the material in a multi-layered way. The piled up lumps of clay reflect the time axis of the dialogue between the clay and himself.

I T A L Y

Antonio QUATTRINI

Ceramist

Antonio Quattrini is an Italian sculptor and ceramicist. He was born in 1956 in a Tuscan family with a long history in the sculptural arts. After graduating from an art secondary school, Antonio Quattrini attended the Milan Polytechnic University and graduated with a degree in Architecture. He has taught arts for many years, in addition to working professionally as an architect and designer. His passion pushes him to work in various fields, including Murano glass and goldsmithing. He is also pursuing his family tradition by working as a ceramicist and sculptor in bronze, wood, stone and marble, as well as many different types of ceramic. In 2010 he created and exhibited works at Uniarte Talavera, Puebla, Mexico, and in 2014 he creates some works at Ceramiche S.  Giorgio in Albissola, Italy. Beginning in 1995, his works have been exhibited in numerous art galleries and in both public and private collections throughout the world.

Antonio PIAZZA

Ceramist

I have always practiced the profession of goldsmith. Thanks to this work I was able to develop such manual creativity which allowed me to approach sculpture. I acquired my first experiences by attending the Atelier "Oreste Quattrini", via Merini in Varese. Molding the materials has become a natural form of expression for me, as is the continuous search to unite the different elements that form the figurative works as well as the abstract works. Clay, wood, iron, bronze and Raku firing release all the expressiveness inherent in my work. Since 2007 I have been part of the "Free Artists" Association of the province of Varese. My monument sculpture, dedicated to AVIS, is located in the town of Carnago (Varese, Italy).
Other works can be found in the municipalities of Somma Lombardo, Tradate, Carnago, Gazzada, Cerro Maggiore, including at the "Dante Alighieri" Institute in Cassano Magnano.

Maria Grazia Staffieri

Ceramist

"In my work as a ceramist, I perceive the form in harmonic relation with the space where it is placed and not only as a simple delimitation of its contours. This is why I consider the opening as a vascular form or the hole in a sculpture of great importance, they should not break the harmony, but favor the relationship.
 

My main interest lies in the elaboration of the form that is in me and which, sometimes, requires a long reflection before becoming an object. Creating therefore responds to a personal need. Sometimes it is nature that sets the creative process in motion, through stones, caves or tree roots.
Building freehand is a slow process, which implies a permanent relationship between the earth and my inner life. In this long process of "emergence" and in the use of colors lies, perhaps, the relationship with painting. The color, the surface treatment and the type of firing are always related to the final result of the shape: a piece is “born” raku, bucchero or pit-fire.  

I do not think "a priori" on my relationship with the four elements of nature: earth, air, water, fire, but I am fully aware of their action on my mind. It is magical to leave the elements free to perform the miracle and at the same time act with them. Influencing the end result means building a real relationship. Accepting and bowing to the unpredictable is a life lesson. Experimenting to find new ways out that allow for greater possibilities for expression is pure joy."