Zach Tate

I see the figure as a universally palatable form: a common lexicon of comprehension. It is something that humans innately understand and even in its most abstract shapes, can find recognizable. Through this archetypal understanding, I use the figure as a vehicle for discussion. Satirically sculpted forms are created to depict political figures (past and present), part and whole, as a means to reference time, place, and context. The ceramic medium allows for a deeper exploration into the figure due to its flesh-like qualities before it is fired and its inherent fragility post firing. It is through my interest of history and understanding of government that I choose to focus my research on. I believe that the discourse in modern society is simply replayed from an earlier time with societies ebbing from nationalist conservatism to varying degrees of liberalism. That statement is, of course, an oversimplification to the issues that modernity has added to the conversations in society. It is through my work that I push to understand these movements in politics and to draw lines of correlation through our history to better understand ourselves.

-- Zach Tate