FORMAL ROOTS - JOHN PARKER
Neal Palmer & John Parker 8 August - 4 September 2021
John Parker
My forms and aesthetic are of the stark and the industrial. I make ware that is recognisable as the classical pottery vessel. My special concern is to push the concepts of these as far as possible into severe minimalism of form and construction. My Formal Roots are anchored in ceramic history of handmade studio pottery made within an industrial factory system.
My influences are Earnest Shufflebotham (Crown Lynn in the fifties) and NZ architect Keith Murray who first employed Shufflebotham (Wedgewood in the thirties). Murray was earlier influenced by Swedish designer Ewald Dahlskog.
I also function as a theatre designer, so I always present a new body of work as an installation/exhibition. These are always staged, the pieces are presented as much for the dramatic effect as for the objects themselves.
This collaboration with Neal Palmer references the subtle colorations of Magnolia Soulangeana.
VIEW JOHN PARKER'S ARTIST PAGE