In Time II

This artwork featured in The Precious Clay (2019).

This recent work testifies to de Waal’s obsession with the beautiful and temperamental substance that is porcelain, and also with the colour white. A potter since childhood and an acclaimed writer (The Hare with Amber Eyes), his passion for porcelain, or ‘white gold’ as he calls it, has led to an ever deeper understanding of the nature of the material.

Much of his recent work has been concerned with ideas of collecting and collections, and how objects are kept together, lost, stolen and dispersed. Both his written and artistic practice have broken new ground through their critical engagement with the history and potential of porcelain.

Image: Edmund de Waal, In Time II, porcelain, alabaster, gilding, 2017. Image courtesy the artist. 

 

About the artist

Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal exhibited in The Precious Clay, Museum of Royal Worcester, 2019.

Image: Edmund de Waal, In Time II, 2017. 5 porcelain vessels, 1 porcelain tile with gilding and 5 alabaster blocks in an aluminium and plexiglass vitrine. Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery. Photo: Mike Bruce.