Robert Cooper – Ceramicist

Ceramic Review (Jan/Feb 2021) Article: Discarded Influences

Robert Cooper, Candlestick. Photo: Michael Harvey

"For Robert Cooper the past is also ever-present. Incorporating pottery shards from the Thames foreshore into his, often whimsical, works, echoes of other times offer indications of previous use, of lives lived and stories told. As key components of his work, they remind us how much a simple fragment can recall. But he is also keen to emphasise that, while his work connects us with the past, it also offers us a starting point for new memories and other stories." Ceramic Review Jan/Feb 2021

Robert Cooper is an established ceramicist who has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. He is fascinated by the persistence of artefacts and ideas. He often uses found objects, such as pottery shards from the Thames foreshore, which are imbued with a previous life and function, as a starting point for his work.

He has, for many years, employed recycling as a mode of working. Different elements such as clays, oxides and glazes left over from teaching sessions, discontinued ceramic transfers, printed imagery from popular culture and even pieces of previous work are recombined to create new narratives with multiple meanings.