“ How far beyond zebra you go….” *
I still don’t know how far I can or will go with the Vegetable Tortures. Every time I think I’m finished with them something tickles my fancy. (Oooh Matron!) and I start to wonder how far beyond zebra I can go, to quote Dr Seuss.
The good doctor’s zebra doesn’t look much like the dazzlingly stylish animal that so bewitched Victor Vasarely.
Known as the ‘grandfather of Op Art’, the Hungarian artist Vasareli, used optical illusion decades before the short lived Optical Art movement of the 1960’s. ‘Zebras’ , one of his most famous pieces, was painted in 1937.
He was to return to the theme many times.The ceramic piece shown below was made in the 1970’s.
I have always wanted to ride a zebra but I understand they are very bad tempered and almost impossible to break to saddle. Perhaps it is best to play about with them with paint and clay.
The Ardmore Ceramic studio in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa has drawn deeply upon the rich diversity of African wildlife, including zebras. I mean to find out more about the artist behind this studio because they deserve a blog post all to themselves.
The fantastically exuberant quality of these pieces fill me with deep joy. These images are not the best but you get the idea.
Going back to my own zebras – I cast the head from a Wade Whimsy foal that I have had since childhood and grafted the slip cast multiples into yet another cabbage.
This is the piece after bisque firing and underglaze painting but not yet glaze fired.
I used the horse head in a couple of other pieces which I don’t consider to be very successful.
How far beyond zebra will I go? I’m not sure yet but I keep thinking about marmosets and kinkajous, and my daughter in law tells me that sloths are the new big thing…….. oh, and cabbages are always good.
*On beyond Zebra, Dr Seuss, 1955, Random House
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