Agalis Manessi: Pictorial representation and a freshness of palette

Agalis Manessi

"Softly modelled figures and animals, coiled vessels and vases, pinched and coiled bowls and platters are my chosen vehicles."

Agalis Manessi 

The idea of trying out different art disciplines and processes appealed and I ended up at Hammersmith School of Art where one of the infamous Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band members was my tutor. 

"I grew up on a Greek island where we had no art education at school. When I was about five my father took me to a local pottery where two brothers with no hearing or speech were producing terracotta kitchen wares and flowerpots. I was amazed at how they were shaping these out of an amorphous lump of clay. Later, someone told me about foundation courses in England. The idea of trying out different art disciplines and processes appealed and I ended up at Hammersmith School of Art where one of the infamous Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band members was my tutor. We used clay for sculpture but as there wasn’t a throwing wheel at the college he suggested cutting out pot profiles from card, decorating them and rotating them on a record player so they looked three dimensional. It must have had the desired effect because I went on to study ceramics at the Central School where I was taught by many wonderful people like Gordon Baldwin, Eileen Nisbet, Dan Arbeid, Walter Keeler and Gillian Lowndes; it was and continues to be a vibrant department with many inspiring makers passing through."

Agalis Manessi | Twisted Willow

In the mid-eighties after a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, I discovered Italian and Dutch tin-glazed wares. 

"After graduation, I set up a studio in London in 1978 and started making hand built pieces in porcelain. In the mid-eighties after a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, I discovered Italian and Dutch tin-glazed wares. I was attracted to their rich painterly palette and range of graphic styles. It seemed to offer me a gentler way of creating painterly compositions across the surface. The formative experience seeing forms emerging from the plastic clay continues to inform my making. Softly modelled figures and animals, coiled vessels and vases, pinched and coiled bowls and platters are my chosen vehicles. Once dipped in the tin glaze, the works become like primed canvasses, animated through a painterly and intuitive approach. I strive for a poetic mastery through pictorial representation and a freshness of palette in which the painting belies the difficulty of the process. "

I particularly enjoy the work of the contemporary painter Peter Doig, his gentle fluidity and veiled use of colour creates a poignant atmosphere...

"Both forms and painting are inspired by portraits and animals depicted by a variety of Renaissance painters such as Pisanello and Gentile di Fabriano, Flemish masters like Lucas Cranach, English artists Edwin Landseer, George Stubbs and Christopher Wood, and the Fauvist work of Maurice Dennis and Franz Marc. I particularly enjoy the work of the contemporary painter Peter Doig, his gentle fluidity and veiled use of colour creates a poignant atmosphere, also the way in which Paula Rego draws from a range of literary sources to develop powerful narratives in her paintings. My subjects are re-imagined from observations of paintings, frescoes and tapestries in museums and churches, as well as characters derived from literature and encounters in daily life. " Agalis Manessi 2018

Agalis Manessi | Looking At Mrs Andrews.