'The Vncnns Vase is the second in a series of artworks created to address the way in which the physical world is being increasingly viewed through the 2 dimensions of a screen.
This sculpture is based on a Vincennes porcelain 'Vase Duplessis', made in France circa 1750. Examples are in the Musée du Louvre, Paris; The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA.
Though I had not seen an actual vase I was attracted to its playfulness, its lively form and bright decoration in online search engine images.
In order to create a version of the vase I required more information. Simple things like size had to be guessed, but when zooming in to analyse details the image became highly pixelated. So the image was taken into Photoshop where a process of simplification and guesswork was entered into resulting in a black and white version that could be imported into the Rhino 3D software and used as a rough draft starting point for the Vncnns Vase. After many hours of sketching the 3-dimensional form started to take shape. It is deliberately facetted and some of the original decoration is missing because I couldn’t ‘see’ it in enough detail.
After completing the Vncnns Vase I saw the original and was very surprised to see how small it is in comparison and how much more complex are the handles. For me this justified the process.
I hope that I have created an attractive and engaging artwork that contributes to the debate around the future of craft and our engagement with technology.'
- Michael Eden
