Tunnel: Johannes Nagel Porcelain Works from 2018 to 2023

The objects by Johannes Nagel are often based on hollow spaces: dug out by hand from the sand as negative forms, they are then moulded and ultimately revealed using liquid porcelain. During this process, the diameter of the hand quantifies both the tunnel that emerges and thus also that of the finished works, which appear organic and earth-like.

Nagel has imprinted his own presence into them and this can be interpreted – above all, in the larger objects – as a human dimension. A torso, ribcage, waist, hips, arms and neck not only resonate as imagined anthropomorphism; they also have a real-life correlation in the artist’s movements during his excavation of the forms.

Breaching the closed nature of a vessel fundamentally expunges the object’s practical quality. A free-associative game unfolds, as with any other medium, yet there is always a corpus-like volume, one that not only creates presence but encloses something too. In addition to the remarkable forms, the highly expressive colours and the painting of the objects take on a central role in Nagel’s work. Beyond the enhancement or restraint of different parts or the pure delight in chromaticity, the colour, glaze and pattern evoke ostensible origins of ceramics from very different cultures.

​The publication provides an overview of the artist’s works from 2018 to 2023. These extraordinary objects are vividly showcased in full-page photographs, while essays by renowned experts examine his oeuvre from very different perspectives. A special book on one of the most exciting German ceramicists of our time.