polyphonic vases
- 2015 -
sculptural scores, #1 and #2
white and black clay, glazed
#1 (zig-zag)
#2 (W.)
The POLYPHONIC VASES are sculptural scores, each one inscribed with a distinct 'leitmotiv'. This motiv, a small musical phrase, is looped. A vase is a very fitting carrier for such a looped pattern. The technique used to insert the pattern from black clay into the white clay is called 'inlay'; so the motiv is not painted on the vase, but part of the structure.
Above are vases number 1 and number 2. More recently I made a third one, differently shaped, which can be seen here. The motiv in the second vase is derived from the manuscript, the handwritten notes, of Wittgenstein's 'Lecture on Ethics' (1929). I used one of the agitated pencil-strokes with which he crossed-out words. The first vase carries a zig-zag pattern that I have used in other works too, for example here.