Return to Sculptural Forms

Discussing the works in the Ceramic Contemporaries 4 exhibition Knowledge and Understanding: Sculptural forms: figures, creatures and other subjects from the ‘real’ world This celebration of the artists Gilbert and George raises the question of good and bad, high and low taste in a very direct way. It is a contemporary version of familiar eighteenth and nineteenth century Staffordshire ‘flatback’ figures that were made to sit on a mantelpiece. We might think that because Windham’s work can be rather ‘naughty’ (‘Proud to be Shits’ shows the artists sitting on toilets, and the piece stands on casts of her own faeces) they have little in common with historical ceramic ornaments. It is worth remembering however, that in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ceramics manufacturers responded to the popular culture of their day, and many ornaments represented contemporary celebrities. Carole Windham Proud to be Shits Material: earthenware Technique: slip cast.   Staffordshire pottery