Nicholas Arroyave-Portela - Contemporary Studio Artworks from the Estate of Jack R. Bershad New York Wednesday, June 8, 2022 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    "Dimpled" and "Zig-Zag" forms:
    Beaux Arts, London
    Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2000

    "Cut Wave" form:
    The Clay Studio, Philadelphia
    Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2001

  • Literature

    Nicholas Arroyave-Portela, Throwing Lines: Nicholas Arroyave-Portela, Leicester, 2002, p. 23 for a similar example
    Annie Carlano, ed., Contemporary British Studio Ceramics, exh. cat., Mint Museum of Craft + Design, New Haven, 2010, p. 33 for a similar example

  • Catalogue Essay

    As an art student at Bath College, Nicholas Arroyave-Portela became mesmerized by the moiré silks that he saw at the city’s Museum of Costume. Wanting to emulate these textiles’ sense of movement, he began creating vessels with delicate, undulating surfaces that resemble flowing water. Arroyave-Portela was equally inspired by artists such as Lucio Fontana and Anish Kapoor, and his work began taking on some of the same formal and conceptual preoccupations as the modern art that he saw during visits to museums and galleries in London.

    Arroyave-Portela’s works are wheel-thrown. After he creates the basic, thin-walled form and before the clay becomes leather hard, he manipulates their surfaces, sometimes slicing through the body of the vessel—as seen in the present “Slashed” form. He sprays on a terra sigilata slip which gives the outside of the form a satin-like appearance while the inside is glazed with a high-gloss finish. Ceramist and writer Emmanuel Cooper described this element of Arroyave-Portela’s work, saying, “There is an intriguing element of risk in the bowls and vessel forms of Nicholas Arroyave-Portela; the walls are so lean and minimal, the edges so crisp and precise, the undulating surfaces both controlled and wayward.”

Contemporary Studio Artworks from the Estate of Jack R. Bershad

26

"Dimpled," "Cut Wave," and "Zig-Zag" forms

circa 2000
Stoneware with airbrushed terra sigillata.
Tallest: 19 in. (48.3 cm) high
Underside of "Cut Wave" and base of "Dimpled" form impressed with artist's seal.

Estimate
$3,000 - 4,000 

Sold for $2,772

Contact Specialist

DesignNewYork@phillips.com
212-940-1268

Contemporary Studio Artworks from the Estate of Jack R. Bershad

New York Auction 8 June 2022