JOSE LOPEZ MARCOS | THE ICY LANDSCAPES

THE ICY LANDSCAPES
BY JOSE LOPEZ MARCOS

“I have been fortunate to live in different locations around the world. Living in other countries and continents has allowed me to experience distinct cultures, influencing my ability as an international ceramicist artist.”

As a potter, my daily work used to be creating functional items for placing eats or drinks.
This is a traditional work inherited from ancient times; the goal is to create objects to accomplish that task efficiently. However, as humanity was developing, new necessities appeared, and new ceramic uses were required. Those basic functional ceramic objects turned into beautiful objects without any specific function, aiming to enrich the place decoration. This was a big shift in the ceramic history field because potters gave their imagination free rein in different creative ways to create new objects just to delight people; this was the starting point of CERAMIC ART.
Today’s ceramic art creators generally introduce themselves with terms such as craftsman, artisan, potter, ceramist, ceramicist, artist ceramist, sculptor ceramicist, and so on.
However, whether you say, ceramist or ceramicist, the term itself is directly related to the creator of ceramic pieces. Although everybody could think of it as a long-standing word, it is a mistaken idea. Actually, it is a recent term that first came up in the 20th century. Before, one could only find descriptions of potters and artisans handcrafting pieces just
as functional tableware or home décor.

I am a Western artist heir to a rich cultural tradition. Although this is a great value, I needed more, and nearly twenty years ago, I felt an irresistible need to know further about other ceramic movements worldwide. That feeling drove me to live and travel throughout South Asia. At that time, the ancient ceramic tradition developed in the Far Easter caught all my being. So I took advantage of that exciting time to learn more profoundly about those ancestral ceramic techniques.

“THE ICY LANDSCAPES”

“THE ICY LANDSCAPES” is the title of this porcelain series work. It is based on my experiences traveling throughout Antarctica, Greenland, and Island. Each artwork will drive your mind into an incredible journey throughout the freezing world of glaciers. Porcelain palaces will appear in the viewer’s eyes, like frozen in time. The workflow needs patience and precision. Every detail is a result of slow and deliberate craftsmanship.
Each artwork is full of sinuous shapes, which lead to a delicately balanced composition.
A complex dialogue between shape and color, the near perfection of human geometry, and the contrast between white and blue. Porcelain brings the lightness and purity of white light.
These works of art bring to mind the profound willingness to gaze upon anything at all frees the mind from fixed preconceptions of beauty. Creating, as it were, a free space in which altogether new forms and relationships may emerge. There are no symbols here to confuse you. Just the aesthetic object to be contemplated for its own sake. Take your time, breathe deeply, and let your mind journey through these creations.

“EXPRESSING THE MOST WITH THE LEAST.”

At first glance, the whole shape seems confusing; closely amazing forms appear before you after looking at it. Every new journey into the creation will bring different forms from nature to your mind.
Every single part of the composition expresses the force of nature. For example, the icy white is getting deep blue, whereas the whole sculpture seems to collapse at a glacial pace.
This contemporary porcelain artwork results from a thoughtful process of deconstructing ancient porcelain techniques. With all due respect to masters of antiquity and being inspired by their ICY LANDSCAPES.

See the full article in Art Market Magazine Issue #79