For some time I was trying to find a new thread of inspiration for my comeback as a ceramist. For numerous reasons, my activity as ceramist was stalled, and the idea of revisiting my old work, as a way to restart, was freaking me out. After a while, that thread finally came and I was able to enthusiastically restart my project. The word “research” has served me well in that quest. Beyond a more conservative meaning of the word (that made me dive into the study of the Portuguese ceramic history), there was a more personal search, asking myself about the right reasons for the comeback. It was in the field of passions that found the missing spark!
Historically speaking I started my research on the 19th century Portuguese ceramists Manuel Cipriano Gomes (Mafra) and Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, followers of the great French 16th-century potter, Bernard Palissy, master on the reproduction three-dimensional still life natural contexts. The research led me to the idea of creating objects, not necessarily functional, scoped by still-life backgrounds. It was enough for a start, but not enough to make headway.
The ignition came in 2010 after visiting (part one, and in 2011 part two) a remarkable exhibition at the Modern Art Museum Caloute Gulbenkian called “In The Presence of Things – Four Centuries of European Still-Life Painting”. Blamelessly curated, painters such as Manet, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Picasso, Dalí, Magritte and Matisse offered me, in a tray, the missing link. After all, it was not in the ceramic arena (my comfort zone) that I found the inspirational thread I was seeking. It was because of my passion for painting, leading me to that place, that I was able to understand how to move forward. That day, long before I finished the visit, I was ready to go to the studio and get my hands dirty.
Nowadays, my work can be defined as being inspired by the paintings I love. Behind each piece, there is my interpretation of an object, once represented in canvas, to which I try to give a new meaning, in a contemporary context, making it part of our daily lives.
I’m living a good creative period. I strongly wish it sticks around for a long time.
Please keep inspired!
Alessandra Romani 