Aj Wej-Wej and Edmund de Waal Revitalize the Art of Ceramics and Let It Speak

This pairing of artists who are also potters and theoreticians of ceramic art, Aj Wej-Wej and Edmund de Waal, revitalizes an undervalued material normally considered only as one branch of arts-and-craft production. In Kneaded Knowledge. The Language of Ceramics, the two artists bring together a representative selection of their works and exhibit them alongside the objects that inspired them.

Among the pieces presented by Aj Wej-Wej are his Coloured Vases (2016) – genuine 7000-year-old Neolithic vessels painted over with industrial coating – and Chan Dynasty Vessel with Coca Cola Logo (1994). Edmund de Waal’s minimalistic work is placed in the context of modernist artworks by Kazimir Malevich, Pablo Picasso and Lucio Fontana. The exhibition is enriched by Czech porcelain by the cubist avant-garde artists Pavel Janák and Vlastislav Hofman.

Kneaded Knowledge. The Language of Ceramics will run from 17 March to 27 August 2017 on the first floor of the Trade Fair Palace, daily except Mondays from 10 am to 6 pm. The exhibition was created with the support of The Pudil Family Foundation.

More information from the National Gallery in Prague

Edmund de Waal - I Speak of Nothing Else, 2015, detail. Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist and Max Hetzler Gallery, Berlin | Paris. Photogapher: Mike Bruce

Pavel Janák - Box with lid, 1911. Collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague

Asger Jorn - Animal Vaze, 1953, Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark / Kongeriget Danmark © Photo Donation Jorn, Silkeborg

Edmund de Waal - Berlin Chronicles, 2016, detail. Reproduced with the kind permission of the artist and Max Hetzler Gallery, Berlin | Paris. Photogapher: Mike Bruce

Joan Miró - Egg, 1956. Reproduced with the kind permission of Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Kunstgewerbesammlung © 2017 OOA-S

Aj Wei-Wei - Coloured Vases, 2006 - Image from the exhibition Kneaded Knowledge. The Language of Ceramics, Kunsthaus Graz, 2016–2017. Reproduced with the kind permission of Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary. Photographer: J. J. Kucek

The Pudil Family Foundation is an open non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of Czech and international modern and contemporary art through the realization of innovative exhibitions, research and educational projects.

For more information regarding the Foundation and our projects, visit www.pudilfamilyfoundation.org.