IRINA RAZUMOVSKAYA

BIO

Irina Razumovskaya is an internationally acclaimed ceramic sculptor, recognised for her work combining architectural forms with innovative surface effects and glazing techniques. She is a tutor at the Royal College of Art London, Ceramics & Glass Department (MA).

Born in Leningrad, USSR, Irina Razumovskaya is a Russian-Israeli ceramic sculptor and painter based in London. She graduated magna cum laude from both BA and MFA degrees at the Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, and holds an MA in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal College of Art.

She is regularly invited to participate in high profile international competitions and exhibitions, with recent works featured in the British Ceramics Biennial, Korean International Ceramics Biennale, and the Loewe Craft Prize.

Irina won the NASPA Ceramic Talent Award at the Westerwald Museum in Germany, the Biennal de ceramics d’Esplugues Angelina Alos in Spain, the International Triennial of Silicate Art in Kecskemet in Hungary, and the Carter Preston Award in Liverpool, UK. She was also awarded the D’A Special Award, Silver Medal at the 59th Faenza Prize Ceramic Competition in Italy.

Her work can be found in the collections of Chatsworth House in the UK, Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art in Japan, the Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan, the Icheon World Ceramic Center GICB in Korea, the Foundation for Contemporary Ceramic Arts in Kecskemet, Hungary, the Yerevan Contemporary Art Museum in Armenia, and a host of private collections worldwide

gallery representation & studio visit

Irina Razumovskaya is an internationally acclaimed ceramic sculptor, recognised for her work combining architectural forms with innovative surface effects and glazing techniques. Also she is a tutor on the Ceramics & Glass programme

Born in Leningrad, USSR, Irina Razumovskaya is a Russian-Israeli ceramic sculptor and painter based in London. She graduated magna cum laude from both BA and MFA degrees at the Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, and holds an MA in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal College of Art.

She is regularly invited to participate in high profile international competitions and exhibitions, with recent works featured in the British Ceramics Biennial, Korean International Ceramics Biennale, and the Loewe Craft Prize.

Irina won the NASPA Ceramic Talent Award at the Westerwald Museum in Germany, the Biennal de ceramics d’Esplugues Angelina Alos in Spain, the International Triennial of Silicate Art in Kecskemet in Hungary, and the Carter Preston Award in Liverpool, UK. She was also awarded the D’A Special Award, Silver Medal at the 59th Faenza Prize Ceramic Competition in Italy.

Her work can be found in the collections of Chatsworth House in the UK, Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art in Japan, the Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan, the Icheon World Ceramic Center GICB in Korea, the Foundation for Contemporary Ceramic Arts in Kecskemet, Hungary, the Yerevan Contemporary Art Museum in Armenia, and a host of private collections worldwide

gallery representation & studio visit

ARTIST STATEMENT

My sculptures, design pieces and painting combine architectural forms with innovative surface effects and glazing techniques. I have become known for creating visions of crumbling cityscapes, imagined ancient archaeological sites, and objects using purely the material language of ceramics.

As well as that I explore the phenomenon of self-restraint, censorship and the intimidating consequentialism of decision-making. They discuss fatalism and how this interacts with the notion of individual responsibility, drawing a parallel between these questions and working with clay as a material. Ceramics requires as part of the creative process a physical and irreversible transformation in the nature of the object, leading to a moment of tension where you relinquish the control of the preparation and lose control within the kiln.
I was born in Russia, a country that through its history and institutions has instilled a deeply-rooted and complex system of behavioural censorship and control, where it is not just the state that exercises the power, it becomes absorbed into the society and the individual. It was reflecting on the implications on these systems on my own personal values, actions and choices that led me to decide to use clay to express this phenomenon viscerally through my making.
My pieces contain both control and chaos. To achieve the technical results I seek, I make my work using rough and sturdy clay, which allows me to have a full control of the shapes and silhouettes, typically derived from constructivist architectonic principles. Then I allow the exciting part to happen: applying various layers of glazes, clays and minerals, before firing the work. The final result can’t be fully predicted or controlled – the heat of the kiln offers a moment of fundamental and unpredictable transformation, where all the materials go through complex chemical reactions. As a result the layers melt, peel, decay, leaving me as a maker to accept the final result that I only partially participated in.

In much of my work I create visions of an imagined ancient archaeological sites, urban landscapes and objects using purely the material language of ceramics.

Blending together architectural forms and natural shapes, my work reveals itself as a mirage from the distant past and recent present: invoking the feeling of belonging, being present and in contact with nature.

I make use of unusual textures created through experimental ceramic surface applications, which mimic the effects seen on ageing and crumbling structures. Peeling and decaying surfaces provide glimpses into the deeper layers of meaning that can be found within our shared culture, often obscured by the glossy veneer of the modern world.

My work serves as a critical response to a world where the vandalism of heritage and nature is becoming an everyday occurrence.

It reminds us that behind the ephemeral and easy there are profound and abiding connections, which can be uncovered through gaining a deeper understanding of our true context within the history of civilisation.

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