You will not find any plates, mugs or vases at the ceramics show on view now at the UH M?noa Art Gallery. Associate professor Brad Evan Taylor has shown his work primarily in Asia, where he is known for giant wedges of rock, like sections of a mountain ridge that appear to be thrusting upward. Taylor says the natural processes his pieces go through leave their mark.
Artist/educator Brad Evan Taylor joined the UH Manoa faculty as an assistant professor of ceramics in 2008. This is his first major show in Honolulu, though his work has been shown in prestigious Asian venues. Taylor says the pieces have a visceral impact, because he likes to push his materials.
"The big one in the center of the gallery, the four-section piece, they’re somewhere between a thousand and fifteen hundred pounds a section. I like that it’s solid. And I like that when I fired it I didn’t know how hot it was going to go."
"Most times I fire until things are at their breaking point," says Taylor. "That piece was wilting, that piece was starting to move, so it’s essentially starting to crush itself under the heat and the weight. I love interacting with things in that way. So I think the subject matter is maybe buried in that process somewhat."
At the center of the gallery, is the show's namesake, Dark Rift. You’ll see what looks like thousands of pounds of lava, upwelling. Contemporary ceramics by UH M?noa associate professor Brad Evan Taylor remain on view at the UH M?noa Art Gallery through this Friday, December 13, 2019.
