Charles Krafft

From porcelain machine guns to plates commemorating hideous disasters, artist Charles Krafft’s grimly satirical work sheds strange light on an age when terror is rattling our teacups. This porcelain grenade (above) was originally made by krafft for the Porcelain War Museum Project, seen now in an ad for the United Nations.

Created by Saatchi & Saatchi(Sydney), the text on the grenade reads: “Peace is fragile.” This is an extremely good example of the kind of art/advertising that conveys the message clear, simple and above all else, powerful. Additionally, as an ad, the isolated porcelain grenade says a lot without having to use an excess amount of copy (or any for that matter), just a picture - less is definitely more is this case! It’s a very interesting use of art to convey a message. View [6] more samples of Krafft’s porcelain pieces after the jump. Oh, Happy 4th July to all my readers! more…

Art’s lies

• Musei Civici Veneziani

Italian sculptors Bertozzi & Casoni recent exhibition (held in the historical center of the International Gallery of Modern Art of Ca’ Pesaro) presents a series of three works of art conceived as a utopian experiment of anti-monumetalism. They are ceramic works that represent the artistsâ repertoire and figurative imagination well: household objects, portions of nature, representations of animals drawn from reality as well as rigorous representations of some art “icons” presented as leftovers, debris or in degraded conditions. All the works are reproduced in ceramic, a material which the artists have selected as their primary artistic medium and to which they entrust their aesthetic mission. The chaos of objects resulting from this creative approach is open to many different interpretations.

Here’s an extract about Art’s lies, an intriguing sculptural ceramic work pictured above ….

“Draped in Titian red, the room here becomes like the inside of some reliquary case. The lie of art on display is made in the gold which symbolises incorruptibility. This skull of Pinocchio has a long nose that breaks through a small glass display-case containing an object for the repertoire characteristic of these artists….”

Maxim Velcovsky is one of the Czech Republic’s leading young artists. Most of his work is in porcelain and involves ‘reimagining’ everyday objects; among his best known pieces are a vase in the shape of a Wellington boot and a porcelain version of a typical water-cooler paper cup. He is also known for a huge fibreglass crucifix, which stands in a Protestant church in Hradec Kralove. Some of my favorite artworks by Velcovsky (pictured) are taken from a series called Delicatessen, produced for London store, Mint.

source: via Dezeen