sneering, not smiling
ANDREI DAVIDOFF

In sneering, not smiling, Andrei Davidoff presents large-scale ceramic works that have been produced using the ancient Korean Onggi technique, a skill imparted to him from a master in South Korea in 2019. Traditionally, the hand-built vessels are used for food storage and fermentation but here they provide a surface for mark making and introduce a cast of low culture characters; snarling wolves, imagery from Russian prison tattoos, and malevolent smiley faces.

The prehistoric (7000-year-old) ceramic technique wrestles with the decoration on its surface – flaking and bristling here, and at other times, remaining stoic and compliant. Like the ruins of a city that endure as history gallops on, culture flows from the past to the future inextricably linking and collecting things of value and also debris as it moves. Davidoff creates moments where high and low culture come together – not always comfortably – and are suspended in tension.

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