Dialectic of Failure

2013
Installation view at West Vancouver Museum, West Vancouver

Dialectic of Failure engages clay and the craft process to navigate the unstable terrain between opposing forces—historicism and modernity, art and craft, reason and mysticism. At the core of the work are terracotta scream pots—vessels that suggest both anatomical and functional forms—inviting viewers to release pent-up emotions into objects designed to absorb and mute sound. This act of controlled containment stands in tension with another process in the series, where clay is hurled forcefully against a wall, embodying a raw, physical rupture from suppression.

By positioning clay—a material historically relegated to craft—within a space of critical reflection, Dialectic of Failure resists hierarchical distinctions between art and craft, revealing craft as an active, conceptual process rather than a static tradition. The work becomes a cathartic meditation on frustration, distress, and the limitations of reason, challenging the idea that material and gesture are neutral. In doing so, Dialectic of Failure reframes craft as a site of resistance and negotiation, an arena for confronting the contradictions of contemporary existence.

+

Dialectic of Failure

Detail

2013
Screampots

+

Dialectic of Failure

Detail

2013
Screampots

+

Dialectic of Failure

Detail

2013
Screampots