This is renowned Irish ceramicist Vivienne Foley’s first solo exhibition in Ireland for over ten years and will include her signature hand thrown, classical and abstract porcelain vessels, as well as a new series of elegantly modelled bronze sculpture.

The Solomon Gallery is delighted to introduce Vivienne Foley to the gallery stable. Based in London, she is internationally recognised as one of the finest artists working in porcelain. She has had multiple solo exhibitions including at the V&A in London, James Graham & Sons in New York and the National Museum of Ireland. Her work can be found in The White House, the Swedish Royal Household, the Ulster Museum and the National Museum of Ireland, as well as embassies, hotels and corporate headquarters worldwide.

Vivienne Foley’s bronze sculptures are a recent development in her practice. Best known for her works in porcelain, a medium she has worked in for over forty years, each of the artist’s bronzes extends her classically thrown forms, distinguished by their flowing lines and smooth surfaces. When cast in bronze, these forms have physical weight and a feeling of permanence emphasised by a darker patina. While the abstract nature of each form lends them a strong contemporaneity, they also evoke past civilisations.

The artist’s sculptural porcelains take inspiration from Chinese ceramics where she works the notoriously difficult porcelain clay into elegant and sensitive forms. “The excitement and challenge for me is to produce flowing forms from a process fraught with technical difficulties. I try to factor in all the variables knowing that during drying, glazing and firing, the pieces will take on a life of their own, and that no two are ever the same.”