Derek Wilson

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Biography

Derek Wilson graduated from the University of Ulster in 2007 with an MA in Fine and Applied Arts, specialising in Ceramics. Since completing the ‘Making It’ residency programme in 2009, he has continued to exhibit extensively throughout the UK and Ireland. In 2013 he was featured in Wallpaper* magazine’s ‘Handmade’ exhibition. He is currently represented by galleries in London, Japan and Zurich. Derek Wilson’s practice centres on the making of a diverse range of contemporary objects – from the functional to the sculptural. It always starts with the same process, the potter’s wheel being the predominant tool, but his work is never static or fixed. In some ways it reflects the multifarious identity of contemporary ceramics – a twenty-first century hybridization of studio potter and conceptual artist. Wilson’s ideas spring from a complex blending of the abstract to the familiar, evident in both his functional ware and sculpture. His objects, in their colour, shape and materiality, reference the ideas of restraint, containment and minimalism. This search for a simplicity of form draws inspiration upon a diverse range of sources from mid-century British Constructivism to the history of the ceramic industry in Europe and Asia. The objects, whether they are made to be used or not, tend to be placed in groupings – evoking communality and sociability. The aim is to push the boundaries of a traditional and diverse art form through playing with its aesthetic, materiality and process.

Selected Exhibitions
2025 Collect 2024, Gallery @ Somerset House, London
2024 Winter Exhibition, Gallery @ Edinburgh
2024 Making Memories, Flow Gallery @ London
2024 Make, Hauser & Wirth @ London
2024 Reassembled & Gallery @ Edinburgh
2024 Second Half Foundation @ North Kensington, London
2024 Flow Gallery, 25 @ London
2023 Solo @ IDÉE Tokyo
2023 Modern Shapes Gallery @ PAD Paris
2023 Modern Shapes Gallery @ Brussels Design Fair
2023 Collect, Flow Gallery @ Somerset House, London
2022 Hauser & Wirth @ Zurich
2022 Make, Hauser & Wirth @South Hampton, New York
2022 Modern Shapes Gallery @ Collectible Design Fair, Brussels
2022 Artefact, 155a GALLERY @ London Design Centre
2022 Solo @ Modern Shapes Gallery, Antwerp
2021 Solo @ Idee, Tokyo
2020 Collect, Flow Gallery @ Somerset House, London
2020 A Presentation By Make, Hauser & Wirth, London
2020 Dis/rupt, Hauser & Wirth, Make, Somerset
2020 Variation In Form, Galerie Handwerk, Munich
2020 Troussant At Palais, Galerie Neuchântel, Switzerland
2020 Clay, Wood, Paper, 155A Gallery, London
2019 In Dialogue with David Gates, Hauser & Wirth, Somerset, UK
2019 Vessels Of Influence, Flow Gallery @ St Peters
2019 Painters & Makers, SO Fine Art Editons, Dublin
2019 Ceramic Art London, Central St Martin’s, UK
2018 Solo @ Patina FK, Fukuoka, Japan
2018 Solo @ Curators Cube, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Wallpaper* Handmade Retreat, Gilman Barracks, Singapore
2018 Constructed Vessel, Solo @ Flow, Notting Hill, London
2017 A Vase Is A Vase, A D Gallery Antwerp
2017 Solo @ Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
2017 Assembled Space, Contemporary Ceramics, London
2017 Ceramic Art London, Central St. Martin’s, UK
2016 In Residence, Oliver Sears Gallery, London
2016 Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall, UK
2016 Line Up, Devon Guild Of Craftsmen, UK
2016 Vase, Function Reviewed, NCG, Kilkenny
2015 Liminal, DCOI, Milan, New York, Dublin, Eindhoven
2015 Line Up, Flow Gallery, London
2015 Present & Correct, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2015 Ceramic Art, Royal College Of Art, London
2014 Weathering, London Design Festival
2014 Wallpaper* Handmade, New York
2014 Interplay, SO Fine Art Editions, Dublin
2014 As William Morris Said, Ruthin Gallery, Denbighshire
2014 Craft into Industry, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2013 Wallpaper* Handmade, Art Basel, Miami
2013 Wallpaper* Handmade, Harrods, London
2013 Craft into Industry, Stoke on Trent Ceramics Biennale, UK
2013 Vernacular, Gallery 13, Tent London
2013 Future Makers, National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny