Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Reviewed by: John Cornall
There's a wonderful essay by naturalist and travel writer Barry Lopez entitled Effleurage: The Stroke of Fire in which Lopez lovingly describes the excitement and mystery of working with a wood-fuelled anagama kiln called The Dragon. It is just such an appreciation of the process of fire pottery – the interplay of human craft with unpredictable elemental forces and the almost ritual atmosphere of the firing – that 'Fixing Light, Fixing Fire' seeks to capture.
Initially inspired by the success of the colour photographic illustrations in David Jones' recent book, Raku Investigations into Fire, this exhibition brings Jones into creative collaboration with theatre designer John Bell and the book's photographer, Rod Dorling. Jones is a distinguished raku potter respected in both the West and in Japan. When raku first became fashionable in the West in the 1970s potters were mainly interested in the chance decorative effects that could be achieved in the firing and comparisons were made with Abstract Expressionism. Jones is more sophisticated in his methods and asserts more control in the making, seeking to direct things toward predictable outcomes. In spite of this, Jones' sense that he is involved in a sacred process, a dialogue with the moving spirits of fire and earth, remains intense.
An attempt to convey something of this feeling, what Lopez calls "the play of various forces", rather than just show the pots alone, as is customary, is one of the central aims of this exhibition.
The temporary exhibition space in the Pump Rooms has been turned into a kind of temple. In the centre of the room are the pots – charcoal black, like engine parts anthropomorphised, or scorched and slashed vessels of an ancient cult – arranged on metal shelves suspended from the ceiling at various heights. The arrangement recalls kiln shelves or altars, and enshrining it – like Tibetan banners – are large hanging photo panels that colourfully and dramatically present a firing kiln. At eye-level on the walls a continuous frieze, of black and white photographs describe, in wide-angle format, views of a Cornish clay-pit. China clay is used not only in ceramics but also to make the high-gloss finishes and coatings on photographic paper. This exhibition is also about 'fixing light' and so is meant to consider photography as a magical process too. The intention seems to be to involve all the senses, to draw the viewer's attention back – both intellectually and emotionally – to roots and materials. A bag of clay and an unfired vessel suggest touch and have a didactic function. Most effective of all, is the tape loop of a firing, with its crackle and licks and mutterings, and this brings the whole ensemble to life.
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JOHN CORNALL
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