FIRE! at Venus Over Manhattan by de Pury de Pury

Art dealer and auctioneer Simon de Pury is making his first foray into the art world since his departure from Phillips de Pury & Company in early 2013. Under the name de Pury de Pury, Simon and his wife Michaela have curated an exhibition of ceramic and glass works entitled FIRE!, at New York’s Venus Over Manhattan gallery.

On his choice of curatorial theme, de Pury labels ceramics and glass as the ‘lost child’ of art and design. ‘We live at a time where the borders between art and design have come down almost entirely,’ he states, which offers some reasoning to his observation that despite being in the midst of a technological revolution, there is a strong resurgence of interest in ceramic and glass-based works, which lie at the intersection of art and design.

Presenting 15 international artists including Ai Weiwei, Sterling Ruby and Josh Smith, along with artists who exclusively work with ceramics, such as Marten Medbo and Takuro Kawata, the works selected by de Pury paint a diverse picture of how artists are working with ceramics in contemporary art – from the beautiful glass creations of French-Lebanese artist Flavie Audi to American artist Dan McCarthy’s playful Facepot vases and Fredrich Kunath’s collection of colourful ceramic seals.

FIRE! runs from September 18 - November 01, 2014.