In my 2024 exhibition, Smoke, stoneware forms (referring to chimneys, antique furnaces or balloons) are layered with slips, glazes and iron prints. Surface imagery includes dark, sooty clouds, old maps of the solar system, fragments of Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius, and the first poem of the Rg Veda, the Hymn to the Sun.
Charles Bukowski is also quoted on some of these forms: “sometimes I think the gods deliberately keep pushing me/into the fire/just to hear me /yelp/ a few good lines . . . .” Satirical thoughts on how ridiculous and futile are human efforts, or lack thereof, in an universal scheme
Extreme temperatures and changing climate are increasing realities. Smoke, the product of fire, an atmospheric mist made up of toxic particles, “irritant volatile organic compounds”, can be a metaphor for deception, deceit or willful ignorance–or the shallow, last breath of life as we might know it.
The exhibition was at Waverly Street Gallery, Bethesda MD http://www.waverlystreetgallery.com
View the pages nested into this Title Page for more images.
Kanika Sircar Studio 