everything is broke, 2012

Xavier Monsalvatje

earthenware

12.75 H x 0.25 D x 12.25 W

At first glance, this wall-hanging tile merely seems like an imaginative illustration of a city. However, upon closer inspection, we can start to make out the details of a greater narrative-one that is blunt and candid-making use of the various motifs and images to speak to the consequences of our contemporary cities and infrastructure. The tile is filled with black outlined images, becoming one big mixture of events occurring at once. There are puffs of smoke and spills from tanks, and the buildings, stairs, and highways are being braided into each other. A skull is at the forefront of this piece, positioned right in the lower right corner, affirming this messaging as something that we are to take seriously. Xavier was a Guest Artist at The Clay Studio in 2012.

This piece has been professionally repaired in the top left hand side of the tile, see image for reference.

Artist Statement

My work is based on the study of the industrialization process, especially in the architecture that has been generated during this time period. Architecture that has influenced urban planning, landscape, and social lifestyle, and that has generated constructions that evoke cathedrals of a new belief based on the development, growth, and endless enrichment. I have been searching for the aesthetic element of the manifestations of the industrial advance that gave way to the era of technology in which it forms a new face of power and a technocratic society, where citizens survive in this dehumanized post-industrial landscape.

Artist Biography

Xavier Monsalvatje (Godella, Valencia, 1965) graduated in the specialty of artistic ceramics at the School of Applied Arts and Artistic Crafts of Valencia in 1988. He chose ceramics because at that time he was working at a ceramic factory and collaborated with his brother Jorge, also a ceramist. He was a pupil of the ceramist Enric Mestre.

Upon completion of his studies, he obtained a scholarship from the European Union to expand his knowledge of artistic ceramics in Caldas de Rainha, Portugal. In 1989 he was invited to the creative ceramics course at the School of Ceramics in Manises and in 1990 he graduated in the specialty of screen printing at the School of Art and Design in Valencia, since he has always been interested in graphic process. In 1996, he was one of the founding members of the Purgatori Artists Society.

Since 1992 his work has been divided between ceramics, painting, graphic work, drawing and installation, focusing on the study of industrial architecture and urban planning. In 1998 he founded La Corporacion together with other artists to support and safeguard Industrial Heritage.

His work has been included in group exhibitions and is represented in public and private collections in Mexico, Finland, the United States, Portugal, Austria, the Republic of Panama, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, England, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, Mali, Argentina, Ukraine, Croatia, Namibia, Italy, Turkey and Taiwan, among other countries.

Currently he combines his work in the workshop with the teaching of ceramic courses.

Donated by the Artist - Xavier Monsalvatje

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