Artwork of focus : (second photo) Livia Marin , “Broken Things (v)”, 2018, 17 13/100 × 7 87/100 × 3 27/50 in; 43.5 × 20 × 9 cm, Porcelain/Ceramic
The first thing that catches one’s eye in this piece is the unusual form; a seemingly beautiful utilitarian cup, but melted into itself on one side. This “melting” effect opens the piece’s form to the viewer. That open form allows for a negative space to be created between the normal form and from the form falling away. This space makes the volume larger and more dispersed from the original vessel.
Marin emphasized movement in her collection “Broken Things”, drawing attention to the proportional puddle of the vessel that was seemingly falling from the original vessel. An interesting part about the excess melting of the form is that Marin chose to keep the design pattern intact and undisturbed like the rest of the piece, allowing the unity to flow even through the broken pieces.
The meaning of Marin’s work revolves around the idea of beautiful brokenness, where something can be distorted yet still represent it’s complete and original intent. The untouched design in distorted form is a message from the author about the ideals of consumerism and the strive for power and wealth that increased during the Industrial Revolution in Europe. The symbols are wealth and class during that time period could be expressed in ones china or pottery, so Marin represented these fine pieces, but added the distortion to represent the materialism and internal greed behind acquiring them.
Marin’s designs represents true originality in design and craftsmanship. Her elegant yet seemingly melted pieces draw attention to her work and the embedded message behind them- that these once fine pieces are just things,that can easily be broken, and that in the end that consumerism and materialism will not matter as much as we thought.