BEAUX ARTS, BATH

摘要

It would be no surprise if Tony Laverick's lustred pots reminded me of Persian pottery, the Middle East is the historic and traditional origin of Lustreware. In fact his rich and sumptuous use of colour is more reminiscent of Christian icons from the Byzantine or Russian Orthodox church, and the sheer density and intensity of colour, particularly his lavish use of gold, invokes spiritual emotion.The pieces exhibited (above left approx. H35cm) were modest in scale and consisted of round plates, square dishes and vases thrown and finely turned with meticulous precision. Some of he vases had wide round bellies, others were conical in form, all had necks that were drawn in to leave a small hole at the top, an echo of an Islamic vase maybe? But Laverick has an interest in the French artist potters working at the end of the 19th century, Chaplet, Delaherche and Massier, whose forms and experiments with glaze were influenced by ceramics from China and the Far East. Whilst Laverick's work can be admired for its fine craftsmanship the forms he uses have a predictable 'precious' quality that we have come to associate with porcelain. They lack the authority and playful confidence that he achieves in his surfaces.