Vibrant Matter – Geoanatomic Lab

AFTER RAIN – Vibrant Matter from Geoanatomic Lab

Ane Fabricius Christiansen works experimentally with clay and glazing materials, and the public is invited into a so-called geoanatomic universe in which tactile objects in ceramics balance between the recognizable and the unrecognizable.

‘Geoanatomic’ refers to an area of investigation with its basis in both geology and anatomy, in which the antitheses between the two disciplines are erased and challenged. The ceramic materials are geological, but by way of the working methods and the working process, formations of both an anatomical and geological character arise. The simple material is transformed by the artistic treatment and develops into abstract, complex works with a sensual quality.

Ane Fabricius Christiansen is interested in investigating the inherent qualities of ceramic materials, and the works are created in a process that can be compared to the simulation of nature in a kind of controlled geology. With unorthodox working methods the clay and the glazes are manipulated to the utmost, and ‘flaws’ are refined. For example she uses it as part of her artistic expression that the clay tends to crack during drying, or melts in the kiln when it is fired at too high a temperature.

Ongoing material investigations of the geological regularities of various clay types or glazes and their aesthetic potentials are the foundation for the finished works. This balancing act between the controlled and the uncontrolled results in a distinctive and original idiom.