Michael Reece

Ceramics, April 20th - May 19th 2024

Michael Reece was born in Bombay, moving to Brazil and then the United States before settling in London. He works intuitively, letting forms evolve in the Japanese tradition of wabi-sabi, where value and beauty is placed on the transience and imperfection of objects. Working mainly in porcelain and rough, black stoneware he allows the clay to take centre stage, limiting the use of glazes and oxides to providing an organic texture which results in compositions that are both harmonious and elegant. His forms have been described as "somewhere between a ribcage and a cathedral", or "dredged from the ocean, encrusted by coral". The work is full of paradoxes: the winged structures are reminiscent of vessels and yet the raw, torn clay doesn't hold liquid. This charismatic collection has a strong emotional quality that allows the observer's imagination free rein.