Before I left for my study abroad trip in Kecskemet, Hungary, at the International Ceramics Studio, I came across the work of Danish artist, Maria Rubinke. I hadn't really taken much time to absorb the narratives before traveling, but I knew that I enjoyed her use of very sweet looking, little girl dolls in precarious situations. Cynthia Constantino's Figurines, sculptures of little girls holding guns, were brought to mind when I first saw Rubinke's work.
Often in Rubinke's sculpture, there is extreme violence taking place, highlighted by stains of red in the bright white porcelain she uses. Upon further research I found that she has used a lot of animal and other naturalistic imagery juxtaposed with carnival-esque and other surrealistic - even nightmarish - visual references. Power and fragility seem to be themes that she often utilizes in her small scale sculptures. I feel a sense of Grimm's gruesome fairy tales running through her body of work, warning the viewer of events that might occur if they don't keep their wits about them.
Rubinke keeps her color palette minimal, incorporating red, black, gold, or pink to highlight certain areas of her otherwise pristine, white porcelain. To me, this makes for a more striking, and even illustrative body of work, without distraction of superfluous pigmentation. Kate MacDowell and Louise Hindsgavl are two ceramic artists who also follow this line of color treatment. I usually am very drawn to dark and dingy, warn surfaces, but am incredibly enthralled with immaculately white porcelain. Perhaps it is the discovery of these artists and the fact that I was able to access the phenomenal Hungarian porcelain that I am so excited about bright, white clay. It can be just as expressive as other, darker works.
Often in Rubinke's sculpture, there is extreme violence taking place, highlighted by stains of red in the bright white porcelain she uses. Upon further research I found that she has used a lot of animal and other naturalistic imagery juxtaposed with carnival-esque and other surrealistic - even nightmarish - visual references. Power and fragility seem to be themes that she often utilizes in her small scale sculptures. I feel a sense of Grimm's gruesome fairy tales running through her body of work, warning the viewer of events that might occur if they don't keep their wits about them.
Rubinke keeps her color palette minimal, incorporating red, black, gold, or pink to highlight certain areas of her otherwise pristine, white porcelain. To me, this makes for a more striking, and even illustrative body of work, without distraction of superfluous pigmentation. Kate MacDowell and Louise Hindsgavl are two ceramic artists who also follow this line of color treatment. I usually am very drawn to dark and dingy, warn surfaces, but am incredibly enthralled with immaculately white porcelain. Perhaps it is the discovery of these artists and the fact that I was able to access the phenomenal Hungarian porcelain that I am so excited about bright, white clay. It can be just as expressive as other, darker works.