Nicolas Deshayes, 'The Natural World'

17 Jul-6 Sep 2025

PV 16 Jul 2025, 6-8pm

Overview

Since 2017, Deshayes has been making ceramics in the Italian province of Vicenza, an area historically known for manufacturing hand-decorated majolica plates and glazed fruit. Over time, the local workshops have expanded to produce sanitary ware, crockery, funerary urns and ornaments. Deshayes is best known for exploring the material of the human body via amorphous sculpture. Here, he pivots to a more notably figurative language. Each work is modelled, cast, sponged, baked, honed and polychromed, and the exhibition encompasses many cultural registers, from classic historical motifs to contemporary cultural objects. For Deshayes, this multiplicity allows him to question our preconceived notion of taste.