Marea Hildebrand
(b. 1989) is a Zurich-based ceramic artist presents a new body of monumental hand-built ceramic vessels that marks a significant expansion of her practice in both scale and ambition. Trained in painting and textiles before turning to ceramics, Hildebrandt works at the threshold between painting and sculpture, approaching the vessel as a three-dimensional ground upon which surface is constructed through the disciplined repetition of the painted mark. Reaching close to two metres in height, these works push both the physical and technical limits of her practice, embracing the inherent uncertainty of the kiln, where scale introduces an element of risk beyond the artist’s control. Constructed using the coil-building method, each vessel is repeatedly fired before being meticulously painted and etched with thousands of rhythmic marks applied over days of sustained labour. The resulting surfaces are not decorative but built through a process of continual return, where the painted mark becomes a constructive rather than ornamental act. In this slow, highly physical practice, making becomes a form of concentrated attention, allowing the intelligence of the hand to guide the work as much as conscious intention.
Oscillating between painting, textile and sculpture, Hildebrandt transforms pattern into structure. Rather than describing the vessel, the painted mark constructs it. Each mark is less a decision than a continuation, revealing repetition as a discipline of attention through which the work gradually comes into being. Monumental yet quietly contemplative, these vessels stand as compelling records of sustained labour, material risk and the enduring intelligence of the hand.
