Joris Link | Untitled | National Ceramics Prize 2023

On Saturday 27th of January 2024, the winner of the second edition of the National Ceramics Prize 2023 was announced at the award ceremony at em Studio Gallery in Amsterdam. Out of more than 200 ceramic artworks submitted by 110 artists.
This artwork by Joris Link ‘Untitled’ was chosen as the winner of the National Ceramics Prize 2023.

The expert jury judged Joris Link’s artwork as follows:

‘Joris Link’s work bridges the gap between applied design and autonomous work. His porcelain sculpture is whimsical and associative and at the same time structured, balanced and demonstrates craftsmanship and mastery of materials. He beautifully portrays the properties of porcelain, from fluid and soft to sharp, hard and fragile, from shiny wet, matt and even transparent. The choice not to finish the, sometimes razor-sharp, casting edges ensures that the making process can still be partially traced. You can see that he works with a mould consisting of countless small parts. Colouring the different parts alternately white and mustard yellow makes the construction even more comprehensible. The colours accentuate the beautiful regular structure that the many mould parts form together. The work has a fascinating backdrop, a beautiful rhythmic pattern thanks to the fact that the many mould parts consist of groups of the same size that fit together precisely. Like lego bricks, it allows him to build his mould. This makes his work both ingeniously thought-out and playful and experimental at the same time. And just like in mathematics and geometry, Joris can play and vary endlessly with his parts and find a different outcome each time. Another new shape. The closed compact form he has now chosen as his entry beautifully symbolises this potential. Like a capsule, an egg, a fruit or a seed pod in which a secret is hidden. A shape that can open up to undergo a total metamorphosis and will surprise us with new spectacular forms’.