55 grails 2008
overview
the 55 grails
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series 2 |
series 3 |
series 4 |
series 5 |
series 6 |
series 7 |
series 8 |
series 9 |
series 10 |
series 11 |
series 12 |
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series 13 14
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series 15 16
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some thoughts about the 2008 grails
The grailsFinally, in 2008 I started to make grails once more. Not reconstructions of the holy grail (as I made in the 80's and 90's of the last Century), but 'simple' deformed porcelain chalices: bowls that seem to float in or on the black scaffolding. I made 55 grails, to celebrate or maybe commemorate each year I was allowed to live up to that time. A wonderful life, worth a grail per year...
maybe read word versus image on why I stopped making the reconstructions
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A feeble balanceFor me, the grail stands for the good and the deceptive, while the deformation tells about the feeble balance of our being. The shiny bowl is supported by a black construction that may remind you of architecture (buildings, stairways and scaffolding). These objects refer to highs and lows in a person's life.
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the ultimate piece of ceramicsThe choice of a chalice shape is a conscious one, as it may well have been the first item made by man to be used for drinking. Of course, what defines a human being is the drive to control his environment, to make things… Ceramics is the oldest material with which utilitarian goods were produced in larger quantities . And with that, the chalice is the ultimate piece of ceramics. To me, this is the connotation with the history of the human race. The chalice as a symbol of human BEING: the energy.
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a spiritual objectAlmost every civilisation has a grail-myth of some kind. My grail-myth is the Christian version about the chalice that came to Albion and plays an important role in the Arthur Saga. Without it, the world is lost. Famine, draught, plague, you name it. It takes a pure-hearted person to recover the grail in order to restore the balance of good and evil. It is the story told over-and-over in so many Hollywood films My grails is where God lives. The shiny, radiant cup, a holy container, pure and simple.
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porcelainThe bowl is set apart from its support by so many things: one is that the support is black porcelain, roughly put together and even whacky. The support looks unfinished. They are deformed by the fire, fired so high, they are almost destroyed in the process. Of course made in porcelain, as porcelain is loaded with connotations.
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nothing lasts foreverThese ‘collapsed’ grails are in fact a comment on the frailty of our life. Nothing is forever and nothing lasts. Mankind destroys and rebuilds Nature destroys and 'rebuilds'. With the reconstructions of the holy grail, the grails were perfect on the inside while weathered on the outside. Now they are glazed highly shining both on the inside and out.
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The footThe foot is a construction, in which the bowl floats, by which it is supported.
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building and urbanisationAll over the world people build. From an airplane one can see roads and tracks even in the most uninhabitable regions, across mountains and through forests. Roads are a sign that land is eaten up by humans. Man builds at incredible speed, chops down forests, levels mountains and now, in modern days, chases farmers off their land to satisfy modern city’s ever increasing lust for land.
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the Manhattan SeriesThe year 2005 was the turning point where for the first time more than half the world’s population lives in cities. This project that started in 1998 and was finally realized in 2005.
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chaos supporting der VollendungIn these most recent grails you can read my comments on this building frenzy: the scaffolding is reclining, the logic of the construction often is lacking, it leans towards chaos. The scaffolding, the stacking…, the lost or incomplete architecture serves no other purpose than to carry the bowl: the grail. or in German: "der Vollendung"
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light versus darknessCompletely in contrast with the construction, the bowl sparkles with light. The extremely thin layer of metal on the smooth glaze reflects the light like a mirror, with some even the colour changes with the amount of light. Light is good. We feel better in light, darkness makes us unsure. God is light, the devil is darkness. A grail can only be considered a grail if it unites the contradictions.
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contrastsThere is no good without evil, no mountain without a valley. Wealth can only exist by the grace of poverty and if everyone owns a car, we all get stuck in traffic jams, in a way ultimately no-one has a car. Without contrasts our lives would be unbearably dull. Sadness, joy, thin, thick, sour, sweet, healthy, ill... it all exists in order for us to realize that we are alive!
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