Baroque and Berserk at the Walker Art Gallery

Claire Curneen presents Baroque and Berserk in the 18th Century Gallery of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

The gallery highlights some exceptional masterpieces, from Zoffany to Stubbs, Reynolds to Gainsborough, these portraits and landscapes highlight the social, political and cultural changes of the 18th century. Baroque and Berserk sits in the centre of the gallery, a complex diorama, presenting a fragmented world in which figures jostle with birds, branches and broken pottery.

Despite an appearance of destruction, it also suggests resilience and hope. In contrast to the exuberance and theatre of the paintings nearby, Curneen’s work is stripped of colour, drawing attention to the pure white, translucent quality of porcelain. It also brings to mind the period of 18thcentury Meissen porcelain and in particular works by the porcelain sculptor Johann Joachim Kändler.