Taste Contemporary is proud to present an exhibition of work by new work by Ernst Gamperl, Maria Kristofersson and Matthew Harris.

Ernst Gamperl’s extraordinary and intriguing vessel forms are testament to his deep connection to material. Turning wood when it is wet, he takes his cue for the final shape of the vessel from the natural characteristics of his material, its surface qualities accentuating the intrinsic beauty of the wood to great effect. Working at the lathe, he allows the wood to bulge, warp and crack during the drying process. To hold the cracks and fissures together he uses wooden and wire staples, which adds further interest to each piece. Gamperl has won many awards for his work including the inaugural LOEWE Craft Prize in 2017 for Tree of Life 2. His work is in museum collections worldwide including The Museum of Arts and Crafts, Hamburg; Die Neue Sammlung, Munich; Collection Issey Miyake, Japan; The National Foundation for Contemporary Art, Paris and the V&A Museum, London.

Constructed from earthenware, Maria Kristofersson also responds to her material, allowing it to take her in different directions, but always controlling the final outcome. Viewed as almost three-dimensional drawings, her squared and cylindrical vessel forms appear to evoke familiar everyday objects, however, they have moved beyond function and seek to engage the viewer in new expressive possibilities. Working intuitively, she creates primarily unglazed, coil built works that focus on line and surface texture. Employing a pared back colour palette, deceptively robust surfaces contrast with thin walled forms that suggest fragility and sensitivity. Kristofersson has had solo exhibitions in Sweden, Norway, Japan and the UK and her work is included in a number of public and private collections.

Matthew Harris makes work that employs painting, cutting and hand stitching. He has worked with textiles since 2000, having previously created and exhibited drawings and works on paper. Concerned with abstract imagery and the translation of drawn marks into cloth, he makes work that explores repetition, pattern and the disrupted or dissonant journey of line and image across and through the surface of the material. Matthew Harris has exhibited widely, work has been acquired by museum collections and is included in numerous private collections. Inspired by music, he took part in Field Notes in 2014, a collaborative project with the British Composer Howard Skempton and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Ernst Gamperl, Maria Kristofersson and Matthew Harris can be seen at the Taste Contemporary gallery at Rue Abraham Constantin 6, Geneva from 10th June to 11th July 2021.