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John Bauer - The Ceramicist
John Bauer pushes the limits of what is technically possible in ceramics.
Born: Cape Town.SA
John has been producing ceramics since the age of 12. Approx.30 years later, he opened his home and studio as the Montebello Design Centre, Cape Town, to provide a space for experimentation and innovation.
John's focus in ceramics is on material engineering. He will facilitate your development to your own unique ceramic technologies and scaling your production. His focus "embracing the noble catastrophe" as fertile ground for artworks forging new frontiers.
His work has been exhibited world-wide and in the collection of two museums before he was thirty. Now globally recognised for his unusual developments in Porcelain production using Sung Dynasty techniques, the images on his vesels rise above the surface of the clay. These are not negative impressions, but positive expressions from the clay's surface.
John Bauer perfectly reproduces in porcelain the trappings of a past age, where skill and craftsmanship were an artist's primary concern. By appropriating rare coins, carvings, lace and organic substances he not only references the technologies of the past but archives them for the future.
A sentimentalist, he salvages antique crochet cloth, linens and lace and makes these materials immortal by recreating them, stitch by stitch, in porcelain. He is able to enlarge them to gigantic proportions or offers them in an extreme diminutive form.
There is always a surprise factor in his work. It is full of light and translucency. Love is a central theme in Bauer's work.
He sometimes uses the inspiration of netsuke, old coins, flowers, found objects and dolls to embellish his work. His signature bowls carry his artwork of mythical creatures and angels whispering words of wisdom and love.
Early John Bauer titles are available to view in the gallery. Otherwise go direct to the John Bauer website for information regarding recent titles or information regarding his Artist Residency in Cape Town.