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©Yoi Kawakubo
©Kate See
©Kate See
©Kate See

Irina Razumovskaya

  • Ceramicist
  • London, United Kingdom
  • Master Artisan
Irina Razumovskaya Ceramicist
Contact
English, Italian, Russian
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+44 7401807108
©Kate See

Visions of ageing architecture

  • • Irina makes large ceramic sculptures
  • • Her art reflects on the themes of architecture and time
  • • She got into ceramics at the age of five

Irina Razumovskaya’s interest in ceramics was first piqued at the age of five, at the Hermitage Museum in her city of birth, St. Petersburg in Russia. “As I was looking at ancient Greek pottery, the distant past suddenly felt very close,” she says. “I could even make out the fingerprints of the ancient makers.” This childhood fascination grew into a passion for working with clay. “I did not want to do anything else. This is the language that I speak most fluently.” In 2017, she established her studio in London, the city where she now lives and also teaches – at the Royal College of Art. Irina specialises in large sculptures and complex glaze chemistry. Her art often reflects the changes that occur naturally in architecture with time, due to the ageing of materials.

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©Yoi Kawakubo
  • ©Yoi Kawakubo
  • ©Yoi Kawakubo
  • ©Yoi Kawakubo
  • ©Yoi Kawakubo
Photo: ©Yoi Kawakubo
TAR&ICHOR

This sculptural vessel represents fear, which is both revolting and beautiful. A burned and melted form, with drops of fleshy red and pink glaze oozing through crusted black cracks. Irina Razumovskaya combined layers of glaze, clay and minerals in such a way, that each one starts to react at a different time during the firing.

Photo: ©Yoi Kawakubo
GRID

A sculpture that looks like a tower that was originally built to be bold, but became expressive through neglect and decay. By halting the firing at the maximum temperature, seconds before complete collapse, Irina Razumovskaya captures a moment frozen in time.

Photo: ©Yoi Kawakubo
ARCHI

In this sculpture of a smaller block on top of a bigger one, white is the dominant colour. Peeling layers of the surface represent the ageing of architecture. By allowing materials to act on their own during the firing, Irina Razumovskaya acts as co-creator, together with nature and heat.

Photo: ©Yoi Kawakubo
PILLAR

This sculptural ceramic composition, with white as the dominant colour, blends architectural forms and natural shapes. Irina Razumovskaya evokes the image of a birch, a tree symbolising femininity and life span in Russian folklore.

Photo: ©Yoi Kawakubo
WAX

This is a multicoloured sculpture, with geometric shapes, about both control and chaos. Irina Razumovskaya used sturdy clay, allowing full control in the shaping. She applied layers of glazes, clays and minerals, before firing the work. The heat of the kiln caused unpredictable transformations of all materials.

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