Bad People by Erwin Wurm
In addition to focusing on photography at the Francisco Carolinum in Linz and sculpture at the Marmorschlössl in Bad Ischl, Erwin Wurm is presenting new ceramic works he has developed himself at the Gmundner Keramik Manufaktur.
The sculpture series Bad People, created at Gmundner Keramik, is characterised by paradoxical depictions of the human form. Noses, ears, and mouths—borrowed from human physiognomy—are recontextualised and become part of figures with inflated and distorted faces that reflect the all-too-human.
The artist has taken familiar forms such as plates and cups from the manufacturer’s tableware collection and reassembled them into sculptural figures. Everyday objects like crockery, tennis balls, and tools appear throughout Bad People, placed in a new and humorous context—with a subtle wink.
A total of twenty-one ceramic sculptures were created: fourteen abstracted heads, alienated through the use of pencils, lemons, cucumbers, and sausages. In addition, seven standing figures were modelled from elements of tableware. Most of the works are finished with glazes from Gmundner Keramik. The partially poured colours contrast strikingly with raw, unglazed surfaces. These ceramic sculptures clearly reveal their method of creation and the presence of the artist’s hand. The interplay of smooth surfaces, seductive colours, and rough modelling generates a tension that is characteristic of Erwin Wurm’s work.
Wurm’s ceramic sculptures reflect their immediate process of creation—a rebirth from destruction, deformation, and distortion. They highlight the absurd, the gestural, the physical, and the creative potential of clay as a material. As a medium, ceramics aligns perfectly with Wurm’s performative approach and is once again highly relevant in contemporary art.
With the support of his team and the employees of Gmundner Keramik and OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH, Erwin Wurm modelled, fired, and glazed the new ceramic series Bad People.
Erwin Wurm (born 1954 in Bruck an der Mur, Austria) lives and works in Vienna and Limberg, Austria. Over the course of his international career, he has radically expanded the concept of sculpture, challenging traditional ideas of time, mass, surface, abstraction, and representation.