Edmund De Waal

Biography

Edmund de Waal (b.1964) is an English ceramicist whose work draws inspiration from traditional Japanese miniatures, and plays with the conceptual and physical dialogues between minimalism, architecture and sound. De Waal’s practice is imbued with a distinctly aesthetic philosophy that puts the human at the core of its outlook. In both disciplines, de Waal employs objects, found or created, as vehicles for human narratives, emotion and history. His installations of handmade porcelain vessels, often contained in minimalist structures, investigate themes of diaspora, memory and materiality, as well as notions of collecting and collections – how objects are kept together, lost, stolen, or dispersed. Working heavily with porcelain, Edmund de Waal’s works range in scale and form from miniatures vessels to large-scale installations. De Waal sees his practice uniting Western and Eastern approaches, in terms of technique, construction and methods of display. Edmund de Waal has shown all over the globe, and is part of many internationally prestigious collections. De Waal has exhibited at the Hayward Gallery, Gagosian, The Feuerle Collection, Berlin, Germany, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, to the Gana Art Center, Seoul, South Korea, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and the Museo Ebraico and the Ateneo Veneto to name but a few of his many exhibitions.