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Aberrant Ceramics is the artwork of Aaron Nosheny,
ceramic artist and potter in Tucson, Arizona.

I work in the medium of stoneware clay and make hand-built pottery, sculpture, hamsas, ornaments, masks, and a variety of other forms.

I’m a self-taught autistic artist working in my medium for over twenty years. I like monsters, insects, weird animals, body horror, folk horror, horror comedy, horror in general, Halloween decorations, fast food mascots, kitsch – all of these creep into my work, but there’s really no overarching theme.

I am in love with my medium. I love the process of frantically birthing clay monstrosities, subjecting them to an epic trial by fire, and sending them out into the world.



Thursday, March 18, 2010

Crucifixion and Centipede Swastikas




The crucifixion scene was meant to be offensive. I wanted to see if obnoxious content matter affected the survival rate of my work. The cross lost most of its bottom section, which could have been an accident or poor workmanship on my part, but the clay barbed wire looked like it had been wiped off the figure's forehead, which makes me think someone was offended. I was a little disappointed, but I guess the crucifixion was a success if it pissed someone off.




I found a plastic centipede with some leftover Halloween candy last year and it started an obsession with making molds. I made a swastika using the centipede mold and was curious to see if anyone at the studio would take offense.




The Nazi swastika actually rotates in the opposite direction, not that it matters. One person did actually ask me what the plaque-like object was for and I told her that I thought every Jewish household needed a clay swastika. She told me she was the daughter of Holocaust survivors and walked away, so I guess the question of whether a left-facing centipede swastika is offensive was answered. The use of a venomous, aggressive, many-legged horror to compose an alleged Nazi symbol could be interpreted as a statement on Nazism by an irreligious half-Jew, but I wouldn't want to insult the noble arthopods of the Sonoran desert with such an implication.

The centipede swastika mold was also used on the cap of this mushroom sculpture.