Collect 2013
My favourite work at Collect this year…
Oval dish series by Nina Malterud represented by the Norwegian Gallery Kunst1.
I fell in love with these simple plate forms –a series of ceramic dishes depicted as images. The oval surfaces - where the point of departure is the dish associated with function and action, but here have a surface like a picture or are reminiscent of a mirror but with no reflection just an atmosphere or feeling created.
“I search for expressions with physical presence without narrative. White, grey, fog, steam, air and water. In the form of squares, rectangles, circles and ellipses.” Nina Malterud
Layers of subtle glaze colours blur into one another, sometimes creating lines or dots. Details in the glazes are brought out by the ceramic process, giving each object a distinctive character. Depth is created through layer upon layer of glaze. The work explores the possibilities of glazing and repeated firings. Abstract expressions are created within an oval frame. They focus on materiality-texture and colour, expressing a sense of emptiness and stillness. There is a nothingness that you could stare at for hours and become lost in, like gazing into the night sky.