Crocodile-string: C.11-2017

Titles

Crocodile-string

Maker(s)

Ceramicist: Jameson, Kerry

Entities

• Sculpture
• Mixed-media sculpture

Categories

• Ceramic Sculpture
• Studio Ceramics

Description

Earthenware, modelled and decorated with slip, colours, glaze, lustre and string.

Square humanoid figure with large bird-like head and crocodile mouth. The clay surface has been beaten and covered in red and brown colours over copper lustre, giving an illusion of bronze. The torso is upright and seated with short folded legs and very thin arms held loosely to the side. The head is large and rounded, partially covered in white, with two lidded eyes turned on their sides. Long, pointed, red-brown jaws emerge vertically from the top of the head, open to reveal uneven white teeth and a red tongue. Thick hemp-like string is tied tightly around the neck and across the head through the jaws. The right wrist and left elbow are wound with thinner string.

Notes

History note: Bought from the Marsden Woo gallery, with the Dr John Shakeshaft Fund.

Legal notes

Bought with the Dr John Shakeshaft Fund, 2017.

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (2017-04-24) by Marsden Woo Gallery

Dating

21st Century, Early
Production date: AD 2016 : marked

Note

Kerry Jameson studied ceramic design at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, graduating in 1992, and completed an MA at the Royal College of Art in 2009. She now lives and works in Singapore. Her drawings, paintings and ceramic sculptures are informed by her passion for the European arts and the spiritual persuasions behind them. The ceramic works are crafted from red and white earthenware, with paint, gesso, textiles, coral and found objects applied; they are freighted with strangeness, drawing the viewer into a beguiling perceptual experience. This piece is part of a body of work which takes the prehistoric representations of the Lascaux caves as a starting point. The eyes give these strange figures life, while the unexpected mix of materials and noose-like string tied around the neck, together with the blend of animal forms and the imbalanced body, is strangely discomforting.