Clay and metal lexicon (phrase 2)

Hi, I'm Robert Cervera from Sculpture and the piece I'm showing is the result of a project called 'Hard/soft: a dialogue'.

The dialogue I refer to is one between order and flow, inorganic and organic, system and chance. My interest, though, lies in the interplay and overlap between those terms, rather than in their opposition. Many exciting things happen to materials when they evolve from one state to another (wet to dry, fluid to rigid). And many more happen in the dynamics between a hard material (like metal) and a soft one (like clay). To summarise, I'd say my piece is about materiality and perception (our perception about the properties of things).

The V&A collections were a great resource to find examples of these concerns, particularly the Contemporary Ceramics collection at level 6. For example, Fernando Casasempere's spectacular Form (2004) showed me how the collapse of a regular clay body can bring the tension between form and anti-form to life.

The way I displayed the work changed during our final show. I decided to take it as an opportunity to experiment with the space and the way in which people interacted with my piece. More than a closed, final piece, I see my work as a vocabulary of clay and metal elements - hence its title, 'Clay and metal lexicon (phrase #)'.

My intention is to adapt my piece to each new displaying context (where each new display becomes a new phrase), so its disposition may change for this V&A show. I will work with the space available, using floor space to position the different elements.