Hans Meeuwsen - porcelain relief in a wooden frame - 2019-2020/2

The work of art is made of porcelain, oxidised heated at 1240 C. The wall thickness is approx. a millimetre, giving the porcelain some transparency. The artwork includes a frame. This frame was designed and made by designer duo Kim and Koen. They reuse wood in order to promote sustainability. Traces of previous use are occasionally visible but not disturbing. Please view the photos. The finishing of the frame is in a Japanese technique “Shou Sugi Ban, also called yakisugi”. The material to hang the frame is included (see the photo) It is a unique handmade object. The signature, in relief, is visible in the photos. The artist signed this work with two porcelain applications, one is his first name and the first letter of his last name, the other features two Japanese characters, Raku and Yakimono. The artist has also signed his signature on the back of the frame When shipped, this chest will be packed “box in box”, with the space in between filled with shock-absorbing environmentally friendly material. Hans Meeuwsen (1954, The Netherlands) graduated from the Visual Arts Academy in Tilburg to initially become a teacher in visual arts at an upper secondary school. His main specialism was drawing, but he accidentally discovered the potential of clay as a visual arts medium. Rolling, pressing and cutting provided him with little flat clay squares that he used to built cubic shapes looking like hermetically closed cells. A few years later he received national and international recognition with exhibitions in The Netherlands and Germany. Important works from that time include towers, pyramids and other constructions, some being pure geometric abstractions, others being interpretations of the mythical Tower of Babel. Hans further developed his ceramic skills during residencies at the European Ceramic Work Centre in The Netherlands and working periods in New Zealand, Lithuania and the Japanese Island Hirado. During the most recent years he has further developed his ceramic skills and works with creamy white wafer-thin slices of porcelain that are mounted into cubes or pyramids. By stacking these geometric shapes in repetitive patterns he creates sculptures that are reminiscent of the Dutch Zero-movement and in particular the works by Jan Schoonhoven, but in the end clearly bears the artists’ own signature. He applies his decades-long experience to create a dialogue between inner and outer space, between geometric and organic, between order and chaos. Hans Meeuwsen is a “Prix de Rome” nominee of 1987 and a Fletcher Challenge Ceramic merit award winner of 1992 and ever since then his work has found its way to many national and international collections.