Windgate-Lamar Fellowship
2023
I am fascinated by how humankind has physically changed the organic world that it inherited. We have dramatically altered natural form; transforming it into the highly geometric and rectilinear built environment we find ourselves in today. It begs the question; did we discover mathematics and geometry, or invent it? My work explores our long, complicated, and evolving relationship with geometry. Crisp lines, flat planes, and smooth curves provide a sense of aesthetic perfection that compels me, even if that perfection is illusory. Our modern culture seems desperately uncomfortable within the world’s natural state and feels the need to strong-arm natural forms and shape them to our aesthetic will. I explore this tense relationship by creating forms aligned with the platonic ideal shapes, out of a material that is neither geometric nor rigid by its nature; clay. Regardless, it is impossible to create a truly perfect sphere, a purely straight line, or an absolutely flat plane. I am motivated to create these geometric forms because they are so elusive, and hold within themselves an impossibility. I challenge myself to push past physical material constraints and into conceptual geometric principles. After all, if one believes they behold a truly perfect sphere, they indeed do.
Mikey Gambino is a ceramic artist who began throwing pottery when he was 15, in the basement studio that he built with his father. After two years of studying Industrial Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology, he chose to add Ceramics as his double major. His practice is currently centered around plaster mold making and slip casting, in combination with 3D digital fabrication tools. He completed his BFA at the Rochester Institute of Technology in May of 2023, with a double major in Industrial Design and Ceramics. Mikey plans to combine these two disciplines to further his ceramic practice.
Selected works
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