Bruce Barry
born 1969, Boston, MA
works in Milton, MA
Journal Entry #106, 2000, Journal Entry #107, 2000, stoneware and glaze, each 3'4" tall, Lent by the Artist, Courtesy Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
In Bruce Barry's ceramic works, handwritten text and sculptural form are equal partners. The texts are comprised of the artist's observations and opinions, personal history and anecdotes, and mundane details of everyday life. These writings are spontaneously and obsessively applied to the entire surface of each artwork, and reveal both an urgency of self-expression and an atavistic fear of the void.
These works are biomorphic sculptures, products of both artistic design and elements of chance introduced by the kiln, which Barry calls his "editor and publisher." Their shapes refer to internal and sexual organs, wombs and cocoons, while their yellow/orange/brown glazes intentionally refer to the colors of parchment.
