PETER VOULKOS CERAMICS: ESCAPE INTO FORM AS THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM MATERIAL

Abstract

It is thought that the art and design of ceramics led the art and craft production of humanity in the
civilization process. Ceramics, which has such a rich history, has a permanent meaning that has
taken its place in the audience's visual reading. This situation arises from the nature of the goods to
which ceramics has owed its existence since primitive times.Historically, the imaginary and object characteristics of ceramics and the meaning associated with it
follow a process that is shaped by primitive needs, turning into functional materials that help life,
and in this respect, into goods. In this sense, ceramics created an intercultural code in the minds of
the audience regarding the characteristics of the goods with which ceramics is associated. In this
context, the return of the material and traditional object production in the art of ceramics also gains
a functional form semiotic expression.
Especially in the face of the changing artistic expression and the traditional understanding of art,
which was falling apart after 1960, it is seen that the art of ceramics passed over this atmosphere
with the discipline's own inner conflict regarding functionality. Ceramic artists or artists who prefer
ceramics as a material and use ceramic technology in the production of art objects have made it
possible to get rid of the traditional codes of ceramics and to reveal their subjective art creations by
being loyal to the material that forms the character of the discipline only through the practices they
carry out regarding form.
In this sense, Peter Voulkos, whose art practice is discussed, has an abstract expressionist attitude
that eliminates functions such as cutting, adding, drilling and assemblage, which he applies in his
intervention to ceramic form, apart from the predetermined and taken-for-granted situation such as
function and usability, by breaking it off from its functional context and with an intuitive
understanding of shaping examined.