Closed

15.7 – 11.9 2021

Anton Alvarez:Tight Squeeze

3–5 Swallow St

Anton Alvarez:Tight Squeeze

15.07 – 11.09.2021

Closed

Hours

Monday to Saturday

10:00 am – 5:30 pm

Gallery

3–5 Swallow St
London
W1B 4DE

Huxley-Parlour is delighted to present an exhibition by Swedish-Chilean artist, Anton Alvarez. Tight Squeeze showcases eleven heavily textured and coloured ceramic towers, Alvarez’ largest and most complex fired ceramics yet.

Alvarez’ machinery is at the centre of his practice, operating in a symbiotic relationship with the sculptures they produce. Each of the ceramics are created by a custom machine built by the artist himself, which extrudes clay through tailored moulds under heavy pressure. The squeezed clay drops onto a platform, which can be adjusted in height to create stretched sculptures of different lengths. Here, the alethic factors of chance and variation dictate the outcome of Alvarez’ work, placing him in the artistic milieu of makers like Max Ernst, Andre Masson, and the fluxus artists. Alvarez’ sculptures are then glazed, petrified in the shape they have fallen into. Hence, Alvarez’ practice raises questions about the boundaries between mechanical production and craftsmanship.

The Exhibition

7

The Works

11

1

Anton Alvarez

1205211514

2021

Coloured porcelain

2

Anton Alvarez

505211818

2021

Coloured porcelain

3

Anton Alvarez

0105211932

2021

Glazed stoneware

4

Anton Alvarez

1705211932

2021

Coloured porcelain

5

Anton Alvarez

1105211532

2021

Earthenware (high fired)

6

Anton Alvarez

1504211739

2021

Glazed stoneware

7

Anton Alvarez

0311201510

2021

Glazed stoneware

8

Anton Alvarez

2811200953

2021

Glazed stoneware

9

Anton Alvarez

1304211641

2021

Glazed stoneware

10

Anton Alvarez

2810201310

2021

Glazed stoneware

11

Anton Alvarez

050211358

2021

Glazed stoneware

Anton Alvarez

B. Sweden 1980

Portrait-of-Anton-Alvarez

B. Sweden 1980

Biography

Anton Alvarez’s (b.1980) sculptural forms explore the relationship between human creation and mechanical apparatus. His practice focuses on technical innovation, designing systems and tools which produce fully formed objects and architecture. While remaining at the forefront of his methods, Alvarez allows his machines to dictate the aesthetics of his work. Form and texture are determined by The Extruder, a self-constructed, 3 tonne ceramic press which discharges huge columns of warped clay. While subtly dictating the direction his works take, Alvarez prefers his sculptures to appear as if they had been made within nature. Thus, he opts to use wood, ceramic, and thread, materials we interact with daily. Affording his sculptures a level of autonomy, Alvarez establishes a direct line of communication between his works and his audience.

Alvarez graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 2012. His work is included in the public collections of the National museum, Stockholm; Denver Art Museum, USA; and the Röhsska Museum, Sweden. Recent solo exhibitions include Roman Toothpaste MXXI at Vandalorum, Sweden (2021), and The Flavour is So Strong at Larsen Warner, Sweden (2019). Alvarez’s first monograph Anton Alvarez: The Thread Wrapping Machine was published by Arvinius + Orfeus Publishing in 2015.

He lives and works in Stockholm.

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