Figurative Ceramics Today

Contemporary figurative ceramics manifest themselves in many ways. Collector and curator Preston Fitzgerald discusses the genre with ceramic artists Enrique Perez Alba-Red and Fernanda Cortes revealing the influences and motivations behind their work. Enrique works in porcelain, modelling figures based on historic forms with pop culture heads. Fernanda works with Mexican mythology to create hybrid human and animal figures.

Preston Fitzgerald is a collector, curator and Chairman of the Crafts Council’s Patrons group, involved in multiple projects celebrating ceramic art across the country.

Enrique Perez-Alba Red is a London-based ceramic artist whose work ranges from sculptural ceramics to site specific installations. Initially trained as a dancer at the Rambert School, he worked as an Art Director/Choreographer in the film, advertising and fashion industries for a decade. He later studied for an MA in Ceramics & Glass at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 2013, at which point he established his practice full-time showing his work internationally.

Fernanda Cortes is a Mexican artist known for her sculptural works. She has an MA from the Royal College of Art and is a tutor at Leeds University. As a sculptor of anthropomorphic ceramic figures and the writer of their stories, her themes explore human moral dilemmas. She creates characters that traverse psychological states and navigate overwhelming emotional density, questioning the dehumanisation inherent in the human condition – a sort of contemporary mythology.