Investigating the Relationship between Form and Decoration

I was admitted to the Danish School of Design in Copenhagen in 1984. However, I chose to continue my studies at Kolding School of Design in1987 and graduated in 1990 with a degree in ceramics. The School in Copenhagen was at that time aimed at the more traditional concept of ceramics such as dishware, vases, bowls etc. The school in Kolding offered other options and there was a focus on contemporary and sculptural ceramics. The school had several guest lecturers from abroad who brought new global trends to the school, and the students were trained in more artistic independence as well as a high level of craftsmanship.

From 1996-2004, I was Head of the Department of Ceramics and Glass at the School of Design (KADK) in Copenhagen.

In the beginning of my artistic career (1990) my style was simple and tight. I showed clarity and aesthetics in the expression of my works with reference to the Danish ceramic tradition.

At the time my intentions were – and still are – to create a set of rules for combining basic geometric shapes where form and decoration work together to obtain an optical effect.

From the end of the nineties I left the more classical typologies form in favour of a free sculptural form and let my works play more freely to attract the observers ´ perception and imagination. From 2005 I broke with the traditional understanding of classical forms and made a radical change to a more informal expression in my works with spikes and balls glazed in often provocative colours.

In 2007 I left the objects with the coloured glaze and have since worked with my theme ‘Tied-Up’ (balls and other objects tied with leather or PVC). I basically make my own plaster forms and press the clay into the forms. After I get the balls out of the forms I model the balls together into sculptures. When the sculptures are dry, I sand them till they are completely plane. Then the sculptures are glazed and re-glazed and fired up three or four times to obtain a completely perfect and monochrome expression and finally they are tied up in coloured leather or PVC resulting in an abstract spatial sculptural expression.

I am still working with developing the ‘Tied-Up’ theme, but three years ago I started to hand-model organic objects. In the pieces, I focus on the object´s movement and highlight convex and concave curves. The organic sculptures are all glazed and fired in the same way as my ‘Tied-Up’ works. The white organic objects are all hand-decorated with black decal. With the black decoration, I want to show the contrast to the shape of the object and how I can change the movement of the sculpture while also emphasising a strong graphical expression.

In my new organic works I am still working with hand modelled objects. But with my black monochrome sculptures I visually want to show how the shape of the sculpture is affected by the reflections from the surroundings as a contrast to the shape of the sculpture.

In 2013 I received the Danish Arts Foundation’s three-year working grant. The Foundation remarked that Steen Ipsen was “one of the most gifted ceramic artists in Denmark.” His works are often called ‘basic research’ because he explores the relationship between form and decoration. He is especially interested in the process investigating the theme over and over. His works are often glazed so they acquire a ‘lusciousness’ and an almost industrial look despite the fact that he has created a very unique piece of craftsmanship.” according to the selection committee.

This website uses cookies

We use cookies to integrate with our video provider and for anonymized website traffic statistics.
Cookies are small text files stored on your device, which let's a vendor know not who you are, but that your visit across different pages in the website is from the same browser on that device, and hence probably from the same visitor.

If you at some point logged in or identified yourself on our site or at one of the third party services below, your personal data may have been associated with some of these cookies.

You may opt out of all non strictly necessary cookies.

Read moreRead less

Social media cookies allows us to integrate with well known social media platforms with the purpose of a mixture of marketing, statistics and social interactions on the third party platform.
Neccesary to display YouTube videos