Ceramic artist Casey Zablocki has managed to capture the spirit of place in sculpture: he lives and works surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, which may explain the scale and monumentality of his work. Zablocki creates his ceramic objects using the largest traditional Japanese anagama kiln in America, where massive clay objects undergo transformations similar to rocks that have been formed and eroded over millennia.
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At a solo show at the Guild Gallery in New York, Casey is showing a series called Ceramic Furniture: about 20 brutalist objects that seem to have been dug “straight out of the earth or part of it,” as the artist describes them. He learned to work with ceramics from the ceramic artist and master of Japanese technique Peter Callas and the South Korean sculptor Hoon-Chung Lee.
For his latest collection, Zablocki used local clay for the first time. The exhibition includes a giant throne-like chair, three monolithic benches, a coffee table and other objects. The artist explains that he focused on the material, relegating form to the background. Porcelain impurities in the glaze helped him create a glossy, textured finish in earthy tones, from russet and pink to yellow and dove-blue.
Time and force play a crucial role in Zablocki’s practice. Pieces require eight days of firing at extremely high temperatures, and then a week of cooling before being removed from the kiln. The physical effort required to create the pieces is significant, from mixing the composition to actually moving the pieces to be fired, as well as maintaining the temperature of the kiln. For Zablocki, creating is primarily a physical practice that requires total engagement, and this force is physically palpable in his work.
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