Paul Maseyk - Exposed

14 - 28 October 2017

In 2005 I made the first of my ancient Greek inspired pots which went on to form the 2006 exhibition It’s all Greek to me at AVID Gallery. That work was a culmination of an increasingly complex decoration style, through an attempt to find the most detailed example of drawing on ceramics and make my “version” of that work. Early red and black figure Greek ceramics seemed the obvious choice in terms of surface decoration detail and complexity.

I liked the Greek example of using hugely complex frieze work generally running around the top of the pot and then below scenes from their spiritual, historical or day to day lives would make up the bulk of the body of the pot. Using this format let me indulge my love of highly “busy” detail with the friezes around the top, yet leave the rest of the pot for drawing and saying what I wanted to say.

For this 2017 exhibition - Exposed, I have revisited this idea. The Greek theme was used as a starting point though not all the pots have frieze work on them and the subject matter is varied.

The title piece Exposed was an ancient Greek practice of “exposing” any unwanted children by placing them in a public place and letting anyone who wanted to, take them. The dealer reworked is a re-imagining of an earlier piece titled The dealer but updated twelve years on. L'éléphant dans la pièce (The elephant in the room) and From hand to mouth are explorations in Surrealism; the imagery evolved as each new drawing was worked on the surface. Red Riding Hood, Rupunzel and Jesus Christ appear on the narrative of the pot titled Fairy tales.

Paul Maseyk.

October 2017

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