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©Isabella Gosgnach
©Isabella Gosgnach
©Bernard Boccara
©All rights reserved

Hugo Meert

Hugo Meert Ceramicist
Contact
Dutch, English, French
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+32 486693012
©Tom Van Nuffel

A sense of humour

  • • Hugo has received important prizes for his work
  • • He creates commissions for contemporary artists
  • • He captures Belgium's surrealist humour

Hugo’s infatuation with ceramics was sparked by a television programme he saw as a child, featuring a potter. “I was only 6 years old,” he recalls, “and the next day I took an old record player, smashed some mud from the garden on it and was literally electrified for the rest of my life!” He followed a few master classes and courses, but he is mostly self-taught: the level of expertise he has achieved in all ceramic techniques has enabled him to play with the endless versatility of clay and porcelain for the last 30 years. Although he loves turning clay, because of the sensitivity of this technique and the opportunity to push materials to their limits, most of his designs are cast. “I prefer this technique for the possibilities it offers of formal development and modulation of the thicknesses of the walls, more than for its vocation to create multiples. In fact, I sometimes resort to casting for a unique piece.”

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©All rights reserved
  • ©Serge Gutwirth
  • ©Dominique Demaseure
  • ©All rights reserved
  • ©All rights reserved
Photo: ©All rights reserved
Fuck-T

Fuck-T, a dark porcelain sculpture, is one of the oldest but also the most iconic pieces by Hugo Meert who claims to find a timeless character in it. On the one hand, a middle finger and, on the other, an extended hand. The piece was first modelled in clay in 1988. Hugo Meert produced it in moulds in 1996, creating a series with 36 copies.

Length 43 cm

Photo: ©Serge Gutwirth
Gold Tripes

The works that make up the Tripes Series are all unique. These sculptural stoneware forms resemble the blotted forms of balloons or an intestine. The stoneware pieces are enamelled in shiny black or covered with 24k gold. Hugo Meert often evokes the eroticism associated with working with clay, which he expresses here through the “dilated” rendering of tripe. The Tripes Series was first presented in 2012 by Annette Sloth (Galerie Puls, Brussels).

Length 45 cm

Photo: ©Dominique Demaseure
Terrarist

The Terrarists Series, shaped from stoneware and black shiny glaze, addresses the question of the fragility of ceramics. Hugo Meert broke part of each piece with pliers and placed a figurine in it, busy attacking it with a hammer. One object from the series was a limited edition of 9 copies, produced in Albisola (Italy) by Attese Edizione for the 4th Biennal of Ceramics in Contemporary Art (2009).

Height 45 cm

Photo: ©All rights reserved
Colorist vase

Colorist vase is a thrown and deformed stoneware vase that demonstrates the possibilities of the plasticity of the material. The turquoise finish is unusual for Hugo Meert who doesn’t like to show or accentuate colours in his works.

Height 35 cm

Photo: ©All rights reserved
World G Cup

World G Cup combines the famous football "World Cup" designed by Silvio Gazzaniga in 1974, a large breast (G cup) and the gold used for its timeless character. The origin of Gustave Courbet's world is not very far away and not everything that shines is gold.

Height 50 cm

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