artwork
Recent artworks
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Biography
Artist born in 1955 in Georgia, USA, to an American father and a French mother.
Lives in France
“Ever since I took up ceramics at the age of 18, my fascination with the world of enamel has never diminished. If I often return to certain paths to discover new secrets, I visit others without ever knowing where they will take me. I go forward as an explorer, dazzled by the work of the elements and continue to question the fire of the kiln with each firing” Charles Hair
Charles Hair works with glazes, he is constantly experimenting with his colours, like a painter with his palette.
He mixes, he adds, he tests; thus his experience, his knowledge make him one of the great ceramists of today in this field.
For a series of creations in 2017, he used for the first time ashes from vine stocks which he combines with his different glazes. This gave him new crackles and transparencies! His forms are those he has already grasped, around the object in a classic, even timeless approach. Thus, without losing the principle of the container, he detaches himself from it to isolate each piece in a plastic purity.
This forces us to rediscover so-called usual, known forms, but as in the Japanese or Chinese tradition, putting on a pedestal forms as archaic as the bowl, for example.
Bowls, vases, boxes, cups, gourds, bottles – with their pure, sober forms, he takes up the codes while bringing in his contemporary artist’s eye. Other forms appear such as pebbles (outdoor pieces) or “breasts”.
On the surface, the material of his stoneware is scratched, spontaneous writing, open to any interpretation, a trace of the artist’s gesture, timeless and universal glyphs.
The simplicity of the forms, their wisdom one might say, forces us to concentrate on the material, alive, playing with transparency and light, in subtle gradations of colour (bluish grey, azure blue, celadon blue or green, oxblood red, etc.), powder trails, knots, cracks and other roughnesses creating abstract landscapes.
In 2019, he is experimenting again with engobe work, which, like a skin, coats the form. This matt, raw, slightly granular material is in tones that evoke autumn leaves and winter earth. It seems to offer a new carapace to his objects.
Portrait of Charles Hair
CV
CURRICULUM VITAE
Main exhibitions, selection since 2010
2022
Carte blanche, Nathalie Béreau Gallery, Cercle Suédois, Paris
2021
“Days of Ceramics”, Place St Sulpice, Paris
Passion d’Art Gallery: “Matter and Memory” with the painter Christian Perrier, Cluny
Center de Céramique Contemporaine: “50 years, 50 artists”, La Borne
2020
“40 years of Earth”, Palissy Museum
“ArtCeram 2020 ” International Contemporary Ceramics Biennial, Musée de Sèvres
2019
“Matter and Memory” with the painter Christian Perrier at the City Museum, Villiers St Benoît
Antoine Barina Gallery, Dietwiller
Gallery La Mostra ” Bols “, Moustier
La petite Galerie : ” Matière et Mémoire ” with Christian Perrier, Bourron Marlotte
“Saint Sulpice Ceramics”, Paris
2018
La cour des Métiers d’Art : ” A Table with Charles Hair “, Pont Scorff
Gallery La Métisse d’Argile. “Matter and Memory with Christian Perrier, St Hippolyte
“Chapel’Expo” Prieuré du Bois-Rogue, Heritage Days, Rossay (Loudun)
2017
Fabrika Garazzi Gallery, St Jean Pied De Port
Workshop-Boutique Einav Benzano: “History of a bowl”, Fontevraud
Museum of Pottery: “Celadon, the Captive Light”, St Quentin-La-Poterie
Stéphane Caillat Collection
Nathalie Béreau Gallery at 6, Mandel : ” Cendres et Couleurs ” with the painter Arnaud Franc, Paris
COLLECTIONS
Charles Hair’s work can be found in numerous private and public collections including the museums of Sèvres(F), Melun, St Avit, Samadet(F), Berlin(D), Aberystwyth(GB), Liège(B)…
PRICES
Laureate of the Fondation de France (1985) for his research on enamel, followed by a six-month working trip to Japan.
Departmental Grand Prize of the Trades of Art (1993). Prize of the Regional Council (1993).
2016
Center for Contemporary Ceramics, La Borne
“Ceramica, Festival of ceramics”, guest of honor, Bourron Marlotte
Le Lavoir : ” Céladon ? ” with M. Fevergeon, J.-L. Jourdain and B. Pouplard, Clamart
2015
Galerie La Célestine : ” Black is beautiful “, Paris
Gallery La Métisse d’Argile, St Hippolyte
Gallery La Mostra, Moustiers
2014
Espace Saint Jean, Melun
“Foresters” Domaine M, Cérilly
“Days of ceramics”, Paris
“International contemporary ceramics”, Sèvres
2013
Gallery La Célestine ” Bols de terre, bols d’encre “, Paris
2012
” 11th Biennial of Contemporary Ceramics. Les Mailles de l’émail, Charles Hair exhibits “, Langeais
“Ceramic Variations 2012: from France to Vietnam”, Samadet
Gallery Métamorphozes, Valaires
2011
“Around a tea”, Thizay
“Ceramic Days”, Paris
La Célestine Gallery ” Return to the sources “, Paris
Alain Plouvier workshop, Chédigny
2010
“Clair – obscur” with the painter Henri Gontier, Thizay
Galerie Médiart ” Les Céladons “, with Marc Uzan and Xavier Duroselle, Paris
Ceramic Biennial, Prévelles Tuffé
Gallery La Métisse d’Argile, St Hippolyte
PUBLICATIONS
2007 ” For a Charles Hair, notes, travels, reveries ” by Michel Cegarra, published by Revue de la Céramique et du Verre
2019 “Matter and memory” Charles Hair and Christian Perrier, text by Michel Cegarra published by Mille Universe
artworks
Overview artworks
Creation Faenza, 1979
Creation Sandstone Dordogne, 1979
Creation Blanc engobé 2, 1992
Creation Villeurbanne Clair de Lune, 1996