Peter Pincus

What started as my curiosity for pottery and vessel has extended to include painting and sculpture, and my present work is evidence of that evolution. I believe that color interaction can elicit new ways of seeing so I have dedicated the last five years to its study. Frequently, I elect to stage conflict by introducing an assertive color field to an equally emphatic form. This friction augments and enriches perceptions of space.
– Peter Pincus

In the world of ceramics Peter Pincus is a master of perfection. In his work, color and form are bound together as if neither could exist without the other. The complexity and hard work of Pincus’ studio practice is concealed from us in the final presentation. The creative invention of form, the precise technique of developing and casting complex molds, and the honing of a finely tuned color palette seem effortless and we see only beauty, exquisite color and form unmarred by struggle or hard work. Perfection of form is often delineated by slivers of cast colored porcelain, fine-tuned to color harmonies, more akin to painting than to clay, or grey scales, tuned as though music.

Pincus has developed new forms and investigations. The Many Few Minus Two features stacked columns of color, cast from a 158-piece mold, in perfect harmony. In other works, Pincus explores the power of black and white.

In a series of eight covered vessels, Intervals, Pincus investigates the distance between shades of black and white with the precision of a surgeon and heart of a poet. Precisely integrated lids are so disguised that they seem inseparable from the form, a perfect grey-scale circle on each top. Only when a lid is removed are the gold luster mirrors, one raised and the other concave, revealed inside. When closed, the memory of the luster mirrors and their perfect enclosure remains.

Whole/Half continues this exploration from dark to light in three pairings of black and white porcelain forms. Each differentiated from the other by a line of round concave dots that diminish and swell from top to the belly creating a meditation on beauty.

Peter Pincus holds a M.F.A. and B.F.A. from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He currently holds the position of Visiting Assistant Professor in Ceramics at the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY. His ceramics can be found in the permanent collections of Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA; Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada; Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, AZ, and others.