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wolfgang de vries
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Wolfgang de Vries is a ceramicist, sculptor and painter, yet he is rather a designer and composer
of beauty at heart. His is a very personal and lifelong quest for the beauty of things, and en route
his quest has yielded a remarkable repertoire of colourful work in wood and porcelain, of inlays
and Raku ware, which is still growing in depth and variety.
But what exactly provides the basis for balance, proportion, and harmony in Wolfgang de Vries'
work?
It is the synthesis of the basic form, its well-balanced proportions and the deliberately applied
enchanting "spot". This deviation from perfection lends specific strength and singularity to his
work and is consciously intertwined with the intricacies of crafting a piece of ceramics.
None of a hundred blue dots on a bowl will be alike.
At first glance Wolfgang de Vries' creations have an air of batch production about them. This is
mainly due to a ceramic body of work that emerges from plaster moulds. However, a closer look
will easily disperse such a kind of surface impression because these hosts of cast white globes,
cubes and cylinders are then awaiting the finishing touch of de Vries.
And this marks the watershed in his work process. It is as if de Vries needs all those blank forms
in all their initial sameness for his next step in search for their diversity, that is, discovering and
unveiling the very character of each individual piece. And in fact, reproduction comes in useful for
this quest for variances of a most subtle nature.
Wolfgang de Vries explores the characteristics of his pieces with a keen eye for detail and great
sensitivity for their idiosyncrasies.
It is an incredibly stimulating experience to watch him at work. His hands and eyes become all
concentration and perception. Every spot for every single dot is picked carefully and ultimately
they will all be dancing. It is a celebration of composition, of those seemingly minute and never-
ending decisions and inventions, and a celebration of intuition.
And yet it is a celebration of craft. Work processes are complex. Raku firings for example are
very labour intensive and require a constant physical effort. The ceramic pieces are red-hot when
taken out of the kiln and are then smoke fired in a bed of sawdust at ambient temperature. This
temperature shock brings about the surface finish that visibly preserves the tension and
suspense of the original process in the final product.
Wolfgang de Vries' smoke-blackened surfaces next to craquelure glazes and sublime decoration
resemble a microcosm of a personal and emotional universe.
Text by Jorinde Barke
Translation by Jürgen Ghebrezgiabiher