Friday, July 16, 2021

Artist of the Day, July 16, 2021: John Brickels, an American ceramist (Vermont) (#1331)

 John Brickels (1953) is a self-taught ceramist that has been creating stoneware clay sculptures for over 30 years. His bisque-fired works describe iconic American architectural structures of the past century, all exhibiting symptoms of decay, decomposition, and decrepitation. His works have been exhibited at the Springfield Museums in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. His sculptures of the Spanish Missions were commissioned by the city of San Antonio and presented to President George W. Bush, Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth, and King Juan Carlos of Spain. He has been awarded countless distinctions over the past 15 years by the South End Arts and Business Association in Burlington, Vermont, and has been the subject of features in Ceramics Monthly and Hemming's Classic Car Magazine.

Brickels’ “Claymobile” sculptures combine vintage toy pedal car/pedal tractor bodies and trompe l’oeil mechanicals sculpted from slab and extruded stoneware clay. Augmenting weathered toy pedal car and pedal tractor bodies with realistic components, Brickels blurs the line between adulthood and childhood. The viewer deciphers whether these sculptures are adult vehicles shrunk to a child’s perspective or a child’s toy amplified into an adult world.

Brickels’ machines acclaim the industrial heritage of his childhood, rust-belt home of Akron, Ohio. His award-winning work is held in many private and corporate collections; has been featured in Ceramic Monthly, American Style Magazine, The Boston Globe, Art and Perception, and The New York Times; and has been exhibited at the the Smithsonian Institute, the Sculpture Objects and Fine Craft Show (SOFA) in New York City, and the International Orton Cone Box Show.


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 John Brickels

 

2 ton Murry

Brewmaster 5000 machine

2015, Uptown diner

Butterfly house

Butterfly house detail

Canal View

2015, Vertigo Barn

Dashboard

Family robots

Grasshopper house

Grasshopper house detail

2017 3 Car Garage

Little Italy

Mill block

 Mustang

 Mustang detail

2017, Abbey Ruin

Mill block

Palm Springs house

Palm Springs house  detail

2018, Brownstone

Scooter

Sonar Ma Cheen machine

Spider bot

2019, Three Sisters

Swiss Miss house

Swiss Miss house detail

2020, Trawler

Wall O Bots

Zig Zag house

Zig Zag house detail

 


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