5 things to know about Strange Clay at Hayward Gallery

Some concentrate on the tactile qualities of clay, others recreate surreal representations of the everyday, or use ceramics to address our political landscape. But all of the artists probe the ‘plasticity’ and possibilities of clay and ceramics. 

The artists in this exhibition are rule-breakers, pushing the limits of how we fire, glaze, and make pottery 

Artist Takuro Kuwata uses traditional Japanese methods like kairagi, a type of glaze resulting in a crackled and mottled surface, to produce dreamy sculptures which look like pastel-coloured cooling lava, or sun-baked mud. In Ron Nagle’s palm-sized sculptures, the traditional methods of ceramic and porcelain are combined with the new materials such as epoxy resin and catalysed polyurethane for a jewel-toned finish. 

But they also take you ‘beyond the kiln’ to large-scale installations 

Liu Jianhua’s Regular-Fragile (2002-03) comprises over a thousand objects in white porcelain – including toys, household goods, and clothing – that spill over the gallery walls like rainfall. While Klara Kristalova crafts hybrid porcelain creatures which look out at us from a fairytale landscape of roots, moss, grass, and branches. 

These works invite us to think about the divide between ‘high art’ and ‘craft’...

…blurring the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and the humble pot. Betty Woodman’s House of the South (1996) is a theatrical display of hand-painted vases, pedestals, and ceramic fragments, inspired by Matisse cutouts. And English superstar artist, Grayson Perry challenges the stereotype that pottery can only be decorative or utilitarian. 

And the works deal with how the personal is political 

Leilah Babirye’s sculptures put her Ugandan Buganda clan heritage in dialogue with queer identity. In Nagirinya from the Kuchu Ngo (Leopard) Clan (2021), scavenged bike tyres are reclaimed, playing on the idea that in Uganda, queer people are often referred to as ebisiyaga, or rubbish. 

Ultimately, this exhibition will encourage you to slow down, and take refuge from the speed of today’s digital culture… 

…with works that speak of the body’s meditative relationship with clay. For example, Magdalene Odundo describes the way in which she hand-builds ceramics at the wheel as a poetic ‘dance with clay’. And Brie Ruais’ Interlocking, 130lbs times two, (Square Knot) (2022) was shaped from clay measuring twice her body weight. 

Written by Sarah Chang

Featured image: Installation view of Klara Kristalova at Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art at the Hayward Gallery (26 October 2022 - 8 January 2023). Photo by Mark Blower, courtesy of the Hayward Gallery.