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Luke Fuller | Episode 808
Every location has its own history, culture and community inherently marked by human experience. Luke Fuller reflects upon a notion of place which is forged through industrialization and our dependence on raw materials. Luke’s work explores the complex layers of our society and infrastructure, in order to critique and understand the context in which we live.
Using clay and other materials as a vehicle, Luke expresses his perceptions of landscape and the ambiguous relationship between humans and the natural environment. Luke manifests his thoughts and concerns through processes of construction and the physicality of making.
Luke graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2020 (he was awarded the Charlotte Fraser Scholarship for outstanding work). Since he completed his BA at the University of Brighton in 2018, Luke has won a number of prestigious prizes and bursaries, including New Designer of the Year at the Business Design Centre, and the Nagoya University of Art Grand Prize. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the British Ceramics Biennial, Masterpiece London, and FOG Design+Art in San Francisco.
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Why is a question an important thing to an artist?
I guess you’ve got to have a sense of discovery and a question allows a kind of platform to enable that, a springboard I guess to think and thought process around a specific topic or an idea.
Why is the conversation more important than a specific answer?
I think that’s life in general, isn’t it? It’s good to get loads of different people’s perspectives and sometimes there’s not always one right way to do something and I think it’s always interesting, I’m always interested even if I disagree with someone, to hear their thoughts on something. That’s an important way of living and also working.
Are you suggesting it is not a black and white world, that there are shades of greys and sometimes it is a blend of things, is that accurate?
Yes, of course, the majority of cases there’s all sorts of different answers and different perspectives and different ways of doing things. And that’s what makes the world so interesting and exciting. If everything was one or the other it would be a pretty dull world, wouldn’t it?
Why do you think artists have been such a strong voice for change or at least for asking questions?
I don’t think just artists though. I think everyone has the power to ask questions and to think in different ways. I guess artists and designers have the time to question things, or not have the time, but maybe they allow themselves time and choose to spend their time on different topics and not accepting a thing for what it is, maybe? And maybe they question, Why are we doing that?
So it’s important not to accept the status quo and this is how it’s always been and we just have to accept it?
Yes, just taking it back to ceramics, I feel like I didn’t realize how one of my teachers in my foundation, how great he was at teaching until I continued years down the line and realizing how other people teach ceramic. I’ve heard people tell me You can’t do that., you can’t do this with the glaze, you can’t put that in the kiln. When actually you can do a lot things that people tell you you can’t do in ceramics, and I think just pushing back against it, when someone tells you you can’t do something you probably should try it because it will probably lead to something quite new and interesting.
What is the most interesting response that you have had to your work so far that stands out to you?
I don’t know if it’s an interesting one but something that happened recently at a show, but someone was really interested in the weight of everything and how heavy everything was. It was kind of an odd response to work. I guess because they look like rocks or something, I am not sure. He was really interested in knowing the weight, it was kind of a bizarre kind of thing because I couldn’t really tell because I don’t weight the work. It was a weird encounter.
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Instagram: @luke.fuller_