Visions in Porcelain: A Rake’s Progress

An acclaimed artist working with ceramics, Bouke de Vries’ latest work responds to William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, and has been beautifully displayed in the Museum’s Foyle Space.

Inspired by Hogarth’s series of original paintings at the Soane Museum, de Vries draws on his love of storytelling, and talent for symbolism through ceramics, with eight newly created porcelain vases presented in various states of (dis)repair. Starting with an immaculate celadon vase, de Vries treats the following seven increasingly deteriorating vases with a variety of restoration processes and glazes, which parallel the moral and physical degeneration of Hogarth’s anti-hero Tom Rakewell. Cracks appear in the surface, the vessels slump and implode – with obvious and drastic methods of repair failing to save the vase or Rake from their ultimate demise.

Image: Gareth Gardner.

Watch our exhibition film

Featuring an interview with Bouke de Vries by arts writer Kathleen Soriano in his studio, and an introduction to A Rake's Progress by Jo Tinworth, the Soane's Curator of Collections.