Tjok Dessauvage (1948): Sans titre, terre cuite émaillée polychrome et gravée

H 11,5 cm - Dia.: 14,5 cm

Tjok Dessauvage (Izegem, 1948) was impressed by the excavations that were taking place in the Koestraat during his college years in Kortrijk. He looked with fascination at the ceramic shards as witnesses of the past and thus became acquainted for the first time with the concept of ‘overdracht’ (transfer), which would later play an important role in his oeuvre. His first calling was that of a realistic painter. During his training at the Sint-Lucas Higher Institute in Ghent, however, he opted definitively for ceramic art, under the influence of pioneer Joost Maréchal.

Over the years, Tjok Dessauvage increasingly uses the bowl shape as a means of communication. In search of a structure with a maximum usable ‘reading surface’, closed pots soon become his trademark. He usually starts from the combination of basic geometric shapes: the hemisphere, the inverted cone and the cylinder. The surface of these semi-spherical objects is described with signs and scratches, with colour or inlay. In this way, he creates a ‘reading surface’, as it were, that allows him to communicate with the viewer. At the same time, by choosing closed pot structures, he makes his position clear in relation to ceramics as an art form. By closing off his ‘pots’ and working on their upper surface, any association with the function of a pot as a recipient or eating utensil is lost, and Tjok Dessauvage unhesitatingly equates them with paintings or sculptures. Moreover, the special finish and careful treatment of the skin of the pot structures makes them unique works of art.

Tjok Dessauvage is not only known in Belgium and its neighbouring countries, but has also acquired fame beyond the European borders, including Japan. He has won various selections and prizes, from Belgium and Switzerland to Egypt, Japan and New Zealand (link).