The Dividing Line

$520.00

For Synthesis as part of MDW 2026.

A series of hand-coiled ceramic sculptures built in response to Anya Gallaccio’s Preserve ‘Beauty’ (1991–2003), in which scentless, mass-produced flowers grown for commercial consumption are pressed beneath glass and left to wither. Gallaccio’s show brings into view the passage of time. It interrupts the consumer fantasy of the object as polished, without history, untouched by labour. Built slowly, through the repeated grafting and pinching of thin coils, these forms return time and labour to the object, making both visible in its surface and structure.

The sculptures are made in two parts, pairing an upper flower-like form resting on a separate lower cylinder. The body rises, flares, then collapses downward on the final coil. Its thin, open mouth records the movement of fingers pinching the clay outward. The surfaces move through yellow, red, and deep purple, crossed by sgraffito lines like veins. Looking through the opening and you can see the second form appears below, glazed differently, one body resting within another.

Scroll Down to read more about the work specifications Below.

For Synthesis as part of MDW 2026.

A series of hand-coiled ceramic sculptures built in response to Anya Gallaccio’s Preserve ‘Beauty’ (1991–2003), in which scentless, mass-produced flowers grown for commercial consumption are pressed beneath glass and left to wither. Gallaccio’s show brings into view the passage of time. It interrupts the consumer fantasy of the object as polished, without history, untouched by labour. Built slowly, through the repeated grafting and pinching of thin coils, these forms return time and labour to the object, making both visible in its surface and structure.

The sculptures are made in two parts, pairing an upper flower-like form resting on a separate lower cylinder. The body rises, flares, then collapses downward on the final coil. Its thin, open mouth records the movement of fingers pinching the clay outward. The surfaces move through yellow, red, and deep purple, crossed by sgraffito lines like veins. Looking through the opening and you can see the second form appears below, glazed differently, one body resting within another.

Scroll Down to read more about the work specifications Below.

 
 

MATERIAL INFORMATION

Hand-coiled from fine porcelain clay and finished with a custom-formulated glaze and slip. The piece is twice fired: first to 1000°C to remove all remaining water content and prepare the clay body for glaze application, then again at 1250°C to vitrify the porcelain and fuse the glaze to the surface.