Mark Chatterley (American), The Kiss

1997, fired ceramic with crater texture glaze with iridescent blue-violet and green, signed and dated to the reverse, three-part wall sculpture in high relief, the largest wired for wall display, the additional works with integral mounting holes to the posterior.


Figures 34 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.; round element 10 1/2 in ; comb 18 in.

Private Collection, Durham, North Carolina

Somerhill Gallery, Durham, North Carolina

Michigan-based sculptor Mark Chatterley has been creating his distinctive ceramic figural works for over 30 years, exploring "the archetypal images that go beyond culture and time that Jung wrote about." His clay sculptures are hand-built and bisque fired in his own 700 square foot kiln. Afterward, they receive Mark's crater glaze and fired once more to achieve their custom textural surface quality.

"Everything is either moving toward or away from nothingness. Life, death, creation and destruction, this is the world I find myself in. I want my art to echo these thoughts. Everything in a state of flux, changing and reforming. A sense of decay along with life. Nothing is permanent and nothing stays the same. I also try to show thoughts and feelings of the human condition. Beauty in the malformed, acceptance of the inevitable. I am doing work of our time for our time, even though I look to the past, the dead, for inspiration."

Chatterley earned a BFA and MFA from Michigan State University, and is the recipient of many awards and accolades. His work has shown in gallery and museum exhibitions throughout the USA and in Asia. He has completed a number of public art commissions and he has cast several of his large works in bronze. He is represented by River Gallery in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Sculpturesite Gallery in Northern California.

Good estate condition.