This exhibition combines two of artist Paul Maseyk’s loves: paintings and jugs. A few years ago, Maseyk began a project deep diving into paintings by artists from Aotearoa New Zealand who depicted the humble jug in their work.
In response, Maseyk has made over 60 jugs modelled from these paintings. He found the source imagery in books, searching collections online, magazines, auction catalogues, the internet and in person. Jugs in New Zealand Painting brings together many of these works, from public and private collections, and places them alongside their jug offspring.
The paintings span a wide art-historical canon, from Colin McCahon to Joanna Margaret Paul; Frances Hodgkins to Francis Upritchard; Edith Collier to Milan Mrkusich. Maseyk operates like a time-traveller, plucking the jugs from the paintings like a pottery version of photocopying, a playful game of spot the clay doppelganger: ”I like to imagine that I have made a facsimile of the jug the artist had in his or her studio at the time they were creating their work.”
As a potter, Maseyk’s ‘bread and butter’ is his domestic ware – mugs, beakers, and bowls. Throughout his career he has made hundreds of jugs – but the jugs in this exhibition are less about their utilitarian function, rather they are a chance to experiment with different forms and style.
Paul Maseyk (b. 1974) lives and works in Ngamotu New Plymouth. After completing his Diploma of Ceramic Design and Production at Whanganui’s Polytechnic in 1997, Maseyk has since been the recipient of the Archie Bray Foundation of Ceramic Arts residency in Montana and the Medalta International Artist Residency in Alberta, Canada. Maseyk’s work is held in numerous collections both nationally and internationally.
Produced in partnership with The Dowse Art Museum, and with the support of Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa.
