Certain Other Circumstances – Claire Muckian

In the unusual landscape of Claire Muckian’s second solo show, are placed peculiar fragmented objects and constructions.  Lying somewhere between ceramics and sculpture, Claire’s work presents a hybrid of both disciplines.  The title refers to the physical actions, chance and limitations contingent upon the ceramic making process.  These objects call attention to how things look and investigate how process and material drive work forward.

Working with a range of processes and materials, Claire Muckian (Irish, b. 1981) creates objects that register the residues of their construction.

Claire’s visual motifs, elliptical or annular forms and the plinth/platform seem to articulate a certain recognition in the mind of the viewer of an ancient or elusive ritual, the exact meaning remaining obscure and ambiguous. 

Archipelago recalls a strange otherworldly landscape.  Annular Form might be a container for some mysterious effusive substance, an architectural structure but all the while playing with the notion of open and closed in the ceramic vessel.

This series of work displaces the historical function of support structures, in particular the plinth, where it transforms into a richly associative motif for offering and platform for potential activity.  Reductive, naïve rendering of plinths or platforms have a performative aspect and are full of anticipation and possibility.

Claire Muckian (b. 1981, Dundalk) lives and works in Belfast. Recent solo exhibitions include Provisional Circumstances, Catalyst Arts Project Space, Belfast (2012). 

Selected group exhibitions include Fragile! In Transit, Maxwell Street Studios, Belfast (2012).