Art Metropole

#12582

The Thing Quarterly - Issue 29: Ricky Swallow

Artist

Ricky Swallow

Date

2016

Publisher

The Thing Quarterly

Format

Periodicals

Size

5.5 × 4 × 2.5 in

Genre

Multiple

Description

Issue 29 is a porcelain egg cup by LA-based artist Ricky Swallow. It was conceived alongside Swallow’s SHAKER BELL, a limited edition project for THE THING. The starting point for both objects was the shaker peg, originally designed by Shakers to adhere to their guiding principals of simplicity, utility, and honesty. As in all of his work, Swallow hand-constructed the original forms out of ordinary materials – cardboard, tape, and glue, in addition to the wooden pegs which were added to the objects as intuitive handles.

The object relates to Swallow’s recent sculptures in bronze, which draw on the intimate scale and materiality of domestic forms.

THE THING and Swallow worked closely with North Carolina-based ceramic studio Haand to create a precise mold of the cardboard form. Using traditional craft methods, the studio then produced the final porcelain objects in a limited run of 700. Traces of the artist’s prototype are still visible in the final objects, as are traces of the casting process (visible in the seam lines, trimming, and glaze). A custom stamp bearing the initials TTQ/RS is pressed into the bottom of each cup. A printed poster designed by the artist and TTQ accompanies each object. Like all THING issues, it is fully functional and meant to be used.

Made in collaboration with Haand.

Porcelain egg cup, matte white glaze.
Includes a poster designed by the artist.
Released February 2016.

1.