Olav Slingerland (1969) is a maker who has found in ceramics the technique and material in which he can best express himself. Although trained as a product designer, he has never wanted to be part of the mass industry. In the ceramic process, he has found a way that allows him to produce on a small scale and where he can control every step of the process himself.
His work still refers to an utensil such as a vase or bowl but has increasingly lost its function over the years. Olav often presents his work hanging on the wall, where the individual objects form a new whole through repetition or combination with each other, reinforcing their monumental status.
Purity of form is often central to his work, both in individual objects and in composite works such as Dot-Circle and Big-Circle. Another feature is optical distortion, which he applies, for example, in the Puntkom, a bowl in which an asymmetrically placed dot runs away into nothingness. An effect enhanced by the way he allows the glaze to run out from the point.
Casting clay in moulds allows him to reproduce his objects and then give each one its own character. The outside is finished with terra sigillata, giving it a pure, matt look. On the inside/top, he sprays the glaze in gradients, often mixing several colours in layers. The transparency and gloss of the glaze give the work a richness that contrasts nicely with the austere exterior. He carries out the entire process himself in his own studio.
With his objects, he explores the boundaries of craft, art and design.
His work is available in various shops, museum shops and galleries and has been shown in CODA museum in Apeldoorn, Museum Princessehof in Leeuwarden and ceramics museum de Tiendschuur in Tegelen, among others.
Olav studied at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and lives and works in Lith (Brabant).
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