Slab Work

sketchfab

In a 2016 interview with the art historian T.K. Sabapathy, Dr Iskandar was emphatic that ‘slab work’ pieces were “not pottery”. He went on to memorably describe slab building as akin to joining pieces of wood together where “clay is the gum”. Essentially, Dr Iskandar was differentiating wheel-formed pottery from hand-built slab constructions such as that exemplified in Slab Work. In this piece, Dr Iskandar creates a continual tension between structure and freedom. The expressive, random strips of varying sizes and directions on its body are reined in by the structure imposed by its angular shape and the geometry of its elegant handle. Similarly, the courtly, formal posture of its overall form and handle is relieved and softened by the free movement and colour of its decoration.