Very good condition.

Peter Voulkos (1924-2002) was an American artist of Greek descent who is considered to be one of the most influential figures in American ceramics. He is best known for his monumental abstract sculptures that helped redefine the perception of ceramics from craft to fine art. Voulkos also taught ceramics and established the ceramics department at the Los Angeles County Art Institute and UC Berkeley.

After many years working as a commercial potter, making functional objects such as pots, plates and vessels, Voulkos was invited to teach a three-week summer course at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina. It was there that he was introduced to figures such as Josef Albers, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham and John Cage, going on to form relationships with other leading Abstract Expressionist artists of the time. These encounters would forever alter the trajectory of his work, and he began to use clay as an expressive and sculptural medium that defied the rules and traditions of ceramics. Voulkos’ works are full of frenetic energy, containing the dynamism of his process that involved tearing, beating, cutting and gouging at the clay and then firing in an anagama kiln. His abstract and large-scale ceramics lost all practical function and became abstract sculptures made of clay. He would often present workshops for students, and his active production process became like a performance that inspired generations of future ceramicists.

This work is a plate from 1995, that has been fired in a wood-fired kiln based on Japanese Raku ware. From the 1980s onwards, Voulkos returned to making small-scale vessels, plates and objects on a potter’s wheel. Though recognizable in form as a plate, it retains the energy of his large-scale works with its torn chunks, uneven shape and cracked surface.