.jpg)
ESSENTIAL
Hans Vangsø DK
Exhibition 12 February – 21 March 2015
Pots of all times - tradition, presence and new life..
Hans Vangsø is highly acknowledged for his ceramic works.
In January 2015, the internationally awarded Danish restaurant NOMA showed his new vases in Tokyo.
This is about elaborating traditions at its very best.
There is something eternally, infinitely beautiful about monumentally powerful pots and textures of imprints from the firing flames, metals, salts..
The essential works carry the ceramic tradition as a strong rule-bound cultural heritage .. and yet each piece quivers of presence and new life.
For Vangsø ceramics are about much more than beautiful objects or new concepts.
His pieces present us with a strong primordial force, where the coincidental interactions allow for the characteristics.
He is fascinated by materials and firing process.
.jpg)
.jpg)
The hand-thrown pots are often manipulated by cutting, altering and likewise into more angular shapes. They are glazed with simple feldspar, ash and clay glazes. Some stand with the raw body, but all are fired at least twice with experimental additions of metals and combustible materials.
Hans Vangsø is exceptional in Danish ceramics where he works with great richness in texture and form.
His education at the Art Academy of Aarhus and a later collaboration with the famous Danish ceramicist Gutte Eriksen, clearly show kinship with the Danish 'Jyske school', to which Vangsø adds to his pieces an inextricable strength, robust elegance and a personal touch.
www.hansvangsoe.dk
HANS VANGSØ - About clay, glaze and firing ”My clay is a proprietary mix of stoneware depending on what I can get. All pots start on the wheel whether they end up in round or square formats.
Having bisque-fired my pots, I pour glazes rather thickly, then wrap seaweed and metals around them ('Muffels'), secured in tightly bound newspaper and decorated with slip. They are then subjected to temperatures of 1250 to 1300 degrees centigrade in a gas fired kiln, causing the glaze to bubble and flow. The salts and metals react with clay and flame to produce rather extraordinary, unpredictable effects of colour and surface. When cool, unwanted debris is knocked off and I apply salt and maybe another layer of glaze.
Each pot is fired three times, including the bisque fire, sometimes four or five times, to create the desired results. Ultimately, clay and glaze are as one.My pieces are typically tea bowls, dishes and jars. All pieces are robust for daily use and can be used in ovens, microwave, freezers etc.” (Quote: Vangsø's website)
In January 2015, Vangsø exhibited in Japan with the award winning Danish restaurant NOMA at the Mandarin Hotel, Tokyo and at the Galerie Hu, Nagoya. He has been exhibited internationally in Europe's leading galleries: Gallerie Besson, London 2004,09; Meister der Moderne, Munich 2013; Oxford Ceramics Gallery 2013,14; Galerie Puls, Brussels 2011; Atelje 42, Stockholm 2011; Collect, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2006,07,08; Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2012; Sigtuna Museum, Sweden 2001; From the Kilns of Denmark, New York, 2002, Berlin 2004, Paris 2004; Oakwood Gallery, Nottingham, England 2004; Carlin Gallery, Paris 2005; Kaolin, Stockholm 2006; Gallery Pagter, Kolding 2013; Ann Linnemann Gallery, Copenhagen 2008,15; and Snyderman Galleries, Philadelphia USA SOFA 2007,09; Gallery Lacoste, Boston 2012,14 ...
He is represented in Danish and international collections: the Design Museum Denmark, Danish Arts Foundation, Trapholt Art Museum and the Denmark's Ceramics Museum etc..
From the Gallery collection:
Grateful thanks to Denmark's National Banks Foundation for the 2015 Grant.
