Contingent Beings: The Work of Cannupa Hanska Luger

For Cannupa Hanska Luger, the act of coaxing his fragile ceramic sculptures from the inert mass of the clay block is part of the process of creation, a cycle of generation and destruction. Its harmony depends upon decline and rebirth. its perfection resides in this process of creative entropy. 

For Luger, artist and inchoate concept meet within this poetic tension between creative act and entropy. The result is the sculptor’s world of clay-fired figures whose cryptic narratives recount indigenous myths and misconceptions. They are contingent beings: dependent, at risk from monsters, capable of heroism, and always seeking truth. Luger’s ceramic figures evoke a fragile perfection achieved by contingent beings in touch with the earth, in dialogue with the world. 

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.