Anja Lubach [ - Present ]

Anja Lubach’s work explores the smooth, transluscent and pure material properties of porcelain, through experimental manipulation of the soft clay surface. Figurative details are taken from religious figurines, the human body and ornamental surfaces. These are then transferred as delicate 3D relief back onto the wheel thrown vessel walls, appearing to push through the surface of the vessels with a sense of animation and metamorphosis. The textures and forms are evocative and the viewer will create their own narrative, depending on personal memory and imagination.

The ‘Madonna’ series is part of a reoccurring design using religious figurines. Anja is intrigued by the human need to create an idealised vision of itself. We paint icons and store body parts of the deeply admired but long gone. We are obsessed with the self in a world in which the individual has been absorbed into high tech consumption. She writes ‘I love the simplicity and low tech nature of pottery. Techniques and mark making are so simple, so instant and yet so difficult to control. Harmony and chaos collide in craft as in life’. The Purity of Porcelain, like a blank canvass makes it the perfect material to reflect on these ideas visually.