Make Hauser & Wirth in Zurich and Somerset
Press Release
Within.Without
Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Rämistrasse
28 October – 23 December 2022
Opening Reception: Thursday 27 October 2022, 6 – 8 pm
Featuring Peter Bauhuis, Helen Carnac, Alexander deVol, David Gates, Akiko Hirai, Harry Morgan, Julia Obermaier, Derek Wilson.
Hauser & Wirth is delighted to announce the first exhibition in Zurich of Make Hauser & Wirth. Originating in Somerset, England, Make launched in 2018 to showcase exceptional contemporary craft by leading artist-makers from around the world.
On view at the gallery’s space on Rämistrasse, ‘Within.Without’ presents multidisciplinary works by eight established artist-makers, spanning disciplines from wood, ceramic and gemstone to metal, glass and concrete. Curated by Jacqueline Moore, Director of Make Hauser & Wirth, the exhibition honours both traditional techniques and new and evolving notions of material investigation, highlighting the creative excellence and vision of the makers’ individual practices and in turn, suggesting the true breadth of contemporary craft. Informed by a dedication to knowledge, process and experimentation, the objects on view reveal an intuitive response to interior and exterior form and material properties.
The exhibition will include works by David Gates, Helen Carnac, Derek Wilson and Alexander deVol. ‘Within. Without’ also features LOEWE Foundation Craft Prize finalists, Akiko Hirai (2019), Harry Morgan (2019), Peter Bauhuis (2021) and Julia Obermaier (2022). Among the compositions and multiple assemblages on display will be Hirai’s texturally rich ceramic moon jars imbued with an animate energy; the hand carved forms of deVol that reveal the inherent properties of wood; altered vessels by Wilson exploring the fluid potential of geometry, and the jewellery of Obermaier which connects a sense of interiority with the outer world.
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Elemental Making
Make Hauser & Wirth Somerset
23 September - 5 November 2022
Opening Reception: Friday 23 September, 6 – 8 pm
Featuring Akiko Hirai and Craig Bamford (SASA Works)
‘Elemental Making’ features the work of ceramicist Akiko Hirai and artist-maker Craig Bamford. Highlighting their distinct approaches toward material transformation, the exhibition explores the relationship between making and an intuitive response. Both consider our perceptions of form and function and the animistic agency of objects. Their work embodies a felt essence that seems more than its material fabric, asking the viewer to, in turn, contribute their own unique interpretation.
Akiko Hirai’s deeply personal aesthetic has shaped her approach to making for over 20 years. At the heart of her practice, the expressive and gestural investigation of the moon jar reflects an understanding of the traditional form, reimagined through experimentation with clay and glaze which is subject to the alchemy of the kiln. For Hirai, everyday experiences and emotions filter into the unconscious mind and are traced across the surface of her vessels through layers of slip and glaze. Capturing moments in time, these static forms become inhabitants of human interaction. Often drawn to questions of the sacred, Craig Bamford’s holistic practice involves assembling materials, locally sourced and reclaimed, to connect to the subconscious and metaphysical, representing a personal enquiry into our place in the universe and the fine balance in which we exist. For Bamford, his creations uncover the life force that comes from the land to inspire a deep listening – a reverence to the energy emanating from within.