MOJUPPOxford Ceramics Gallery

Front Cover Helmet No.2 MJ31 / 46cm H, 22cm W

Figuration is a hit and miss affair in modern British ceramics. The human form is often academicised or caricatured intoessential stasis by contemporary artists. But for Mo Jupp it has been much more than a subject, for he has always beenbeguiled by femaleness, the body as a place for celebration, affection and enchantment (in the proper sense of the word).A landscape to be gauged and re-gauged. Other art may come to mind when we view Mo's work; Ancient Egyptian andRomanesque sculpture, sub-Saharan tribal carving, and a good deal else. Yet in viewing his figures afresh, it is the combinationof the ideal and the oof the ideal and the ordinary, the prosaic, that is so attractive. This is the realm of artists like Degas, where the female nude is acomplex of attitudes; taut or limp, standing or resting, tired or alert, the positions relaxed, observing, often provocative.Jupp homes in on posture; the torso turned or twisting, legs crossed, open or squeezed up against the chest.The pear - another favourite Jupp motif - is treated with the same quirkiness, a fruit with its own gait and personality. Like Degas, this is a sculpture of demeanour, each a study of articulated form in which exaggeration and fragmentation -an extended sinewy limb or an attenuated torso - conveys a gan extended sinewy limb or an attenuated torso - conveys a greater truth about how one actually feels. It is also how we cansee and think of one another, the distortion of appearance and memory. Yet highly individualised though each of these figuresare, there is still is still a sense of archetype, a drawing on tradition, which gives each work its characteristically totemic presence,however small the piece. This totemism was taken to its physical limits in a memorable display of figurative vertical rods thatdelineated the space of a Sussex garden (Peter's Barn Gallery) back in 1997. The work keeps its fThe work keeps its freshness and energy because of Jupp's sheer engagement with the clay. It is a material he knows so well,where each join and joint, each tuck and squeeze, is accentuated by free washes and coverings of slip, often rubbed back toreveal the colour beneath. He explores this substance at its most malleable and sensual, a potent equivalent of the humansurface. And this quality is extended into his delightful bases too (sometimes improvised with suitably coarse air bricks), whichgive these figures their own territory, and are just as expressive. There is a rawness, a nimble speed of making, which adds tothe spirit and verve of these objects. This exhibition shows a significant This exhibition shows a significant return to another Jupp archetype, the helmet theme which first established his internationalreputation in the early 1970s, but which has lost none of its dark menace. Originally of generally more rounded dome-like form,these new helmets are flatter-topped, like the economy of early medieval armour, with some built up into taller cylinders.With their sinister and anonymous facial slits they have echoes of gun emplacements or coastal defense towers, even ofNed Kelly's infamous head-gear. The world of forty years ago was one of Cold War and nuclear threat.As I write noAs I write now, in 2013, these objects seem no less prescient. Mo Jupp's gaze is one both of affirmation and pathos,and as these helmets show, something more ominous too. David Whiting February 2013

Opposite page, right / Helmet MJ14 / 16cm H, 8cm W left / Helmet MJ15 / 17cm H, 7cm W Above / Six small helmets between 6cm and 14cm high

Opposite page, right / Helmet MJ14 / 16cm H, 8cm W left / Helmet MJ15 / 17cm H, 7cm W Above / Six small helmets between 6cm and 14cm high

Above left / Laying Figure MJ17 / 4cm H, 15cm W Above right / Seated Figure MJ38 / 21cm H, 18cm WOverleaf / Helmet No.15 MJ25 / 25cm H, 15cm W

Opposite page / Seated Figure MJ21 / 20cm H, 12cm W Above / Figures & helmets between 6cm and 12cm high Above right / Helmet MJ32 / 24cm H, 19cm W

Opposite page / Kneeling figure MJ20 / 13cm H, 15cm WAbove / Helmet No.10 MJ27 / 21cm H, 17cm W Right / Helmet No.4 MJ30 / 44cm H, 18cm W Far Right / Helmet No.2 MJ31 / 46cm H, 22cm W

Opposite page / Laying figure MJ19 / 6cm H, 18cm WThis page / Leaning Figure MJ39 / 33cm H, 29cm W

MOJUPPExhibitions

1961London, Primavera Gallery1962London, Gordon Hall Gallery: solo exhibition1963London, Art & Design GalleryLondon, Art & Design Gallery1965London, Camden Arts FestivalLondon, Nicholas Treadwell Gallery: solo exhibition1968London, Crafts CentreLondon, Camden Arts FestivalLondon, Design CentLondon, Design CentreBelgrade, 1st Triennial of Ceramics: British Representative1969London, Grabowski Gallery: solo exhibitionCambridge, Primavera GalleryJapan, Arts Council Travelling Exhibition Nottingham, Midlands GroupUSA, Arts Council USA, Arts Council Travelling Exhibition 1972London, Victoria & Albert Museum: British PottersEurope, Arts Council Travelling Exhibition: Ten Potters1973London, Crafts Centre1974OxfoOxford, Oxford Gallery: solo exhibition 1976London, Victoria & Albert Museum: BodyBox1979London, ICA Gallery: solo exhibition 1980South West Arts Travelling Exhibition19811981Darmstadt: Six International Potters1982Rufford, Crafts Centre1984Aberystwyth, Arts Centre: solo exhibition 1985USA, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Boston, Massachusetts, Westminster Gallery

1986London, Cre Gallery, Knightsbridge1987-1990Bristol, Edition 60, annual exhibition: Miniature Prints1988London, Contemporary Applied Arts: solo retrospectiveEdinburgh, Festival Invitation exhibitionEdinburgh, Festival Invitation exhibitionLondon, Sotheby's Invitation exhibition 1989London, Usiskin GalleryAshford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire, Tithe Barn GalleryLondon, Contemporary Applied ArtsBristol, Arnolfini Gallery, Edition 60: Miniature Prints1989-901989-90London, Crafts Council: Harrow Connection1991Bologna, Galleria Il Giardino dell'ArteLondon, Galerie Besson: Selection from a Private CollectionSudbury, Essex, Gainsborough HouseErfurt: ConfiguraAberystwyth: InteAberystwyth: International Potters' Festival (demonstration)Bedales SchoolLondon, Contemporary Applied Arts1995London, Contemporary Applied Arts: The BodyLondon, Crafts Council: Pandora's BoxOxford, Oxford Gallery: Body Language19961996London, Crafts Council Tour: Hot Off the Press1998Cambridge, Lynne Strover Gallery1999Gateshead, Shipley Applied Arts: Body Language2003NottinghamshiNottinghamshire, Peter's Barn: solo exhibitionLondon, Contemporary Applied Arts: Celebrating Education2008Shipston on Stour, Where I fell in Love Gallery: 70th Birthday Exhibition 2013Oxford, The Oxford Ceramics Gallery: solo exhibition Oxford, Ashmolean Museum: Clay Live

Published by Oxford Ceramics Ltd. © Oxford Ceramics Ltd. 2013Oxford Ceramics Gallery 29 Walton Street / Oxford / Oxfordshire OX2 6AA tel: (+44) 01865 512320Introduction © David Whiting 2013 Photography © Michael Harris & James Fordham / Design Michael Harris

MOJUPP

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