Modern Art is pleased to present Forty, an exhibition of works by Steve Harrison, celebrating four decades of work in ceramics.

The exhibition showcases Harrison's ongoing series The Loft Pots. Works from this series are notable for being stored in his attic, after being fired, due to their deeply felt significance to the artist, and the majority have remained there until now. The centrepiece of the exhibition spans forty years of Harrison's production of The Loft Pots, with each year being represented by at least one work. This includes work from his time as a student up to the present day, with a new piece created especially for this occasion. Alongside this, Harrison has selected a range of vases and other vessels from across his career that reflect the depth and range of his concerns, techniques, and recurring motifs, as well as the evolution of his formal mastery.

Harrison's ceramics are made using ancient techniques, such as throwing and press moulding stoneware and porcelain clay. Firing his work in a salt kiln in Wales that he built himself produces the distinctive orange peel patination that makes his work so distinct. As with all processes that rely on a capricious element, Harrison can never know what the final fired work will look like. Each pot is not only handmade but reliant on the variable conditions of its making, from the age of the kiln when it's fired, to the amount of salt in the kiln, and crucially the shape and form Harrison has bestowed it. Harrison’s ceramic and porcelain work is immediately recognisable for being extremely fine, but contrary to the idea that his work should be protected because of this, it's integral to Harrison that their purpose is for use.

Steve Harrison was born in 1967 in Newcastle upon Tyne and lives and works in London, conducting salt glaze firings from a studio in Powys, Wales. He received his BA from Middlesex Polytechnic, London (1991) and completed his MA at the Royal College of Art, London (1993). Between 1994–2014 Harrison was a lecturer in ceramics at institutions including Camberwell College of Arts and The University of Manchester. His work has been the subject of numerous presentations across the United Kingdom and East Asia including: Art Collaboration, The Shophouse, Kyoto; Pan’s Dance, Seoul (both 2024); The Shophouse, Hong Kong (2024, 2023); Blue Mountain School, London (2022, 2021, 2019); Arts & Science, Tokyo (2023, 2019); and Globe-Trotter, London (2018). His works are in public collections including Nottingham Museum and Leicester Museum and Art Gallery.

For more information, please contact Pascale de Graaf (pascale@modernart.net).