Ahmed Farooqui
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I have been working exclusively with clay over the past two years. It has been an intensely meditative and tactile experience, freeing me in some ways and allowing feelings and intuition to guide the direction of my work.

I use slab building techniques in all my work and everything is fired at earthenware temperatures.  I started off with an aversion to making “pots” but found myself drawn to working with containers and cavities. Plump shapes sprout animal or human heads (the Anthromporphs series), bell shapes erupt into dancers with contorted limbs (the Dancers series), the warmth of terracotta invites exploration of archaeological forms (the Soulkeepers and small gods series), white clay calls for decorative flourishes and complex surface finishes.

Works flow from ideas and images I encounter in the world or as a reaction to previous works and preoccupations. This combined with an experimental approach using different clays, techniques and finishes leads to a diversity of forms and styles.  I find this freewheeling process quite mysterious and it’s liberating not to hold myself accountable to intellectual constraints but simply surrender to the pleasure of making things.


There are traditions where a god is said to have moulded living things out of a clod of earth.  Working with clay I feel I am a small participant in that primal act of creation with its endless possibilities and open horizons.

Anthropomorphs

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Agni H37cm
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Minotaur H39cm
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Oxhead H23cm
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Cimarron H36cm
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The Chieftan H36cm
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Amaterasu H39cm
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Oshun H38cm
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Tachiyaku H37cm
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Towin H38cm

nonVessels

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nonVessel #3 H28cm
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nonVessel #2 H31cm
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nonVessel #4 H25cm
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nonVessel #6 H23cm
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nonVessel #1 H33cm
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Two characters on an urn 5cmx29cm

Bioforms

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Blue Hare H37cm
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Bird H23cm
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Gecko H34cm
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Leveret H22cm
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Griffinhead H28cm
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Salamander 18cm

Soulkeepers & small gods

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Baboon headed figure 17cm
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Easter Island soulkeeper 17cm
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Ram headed diety 13cm
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Squirrel soulkeeper 17cm
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Ruffed soulkeeper 21cm
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Sun headed diety, 18.5cm
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Griffin soulkeeper 17cm
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Madonna figure 23cm
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Cycladian diety 15cm

Architectural forms

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Ziggurat #1 H36cm
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Wrapped structure H22cm
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Terracotta castle H20cm
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Ziggurat #2 H38
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Japanese War Tower H19cm
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Blue Basilica H16cm
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Tree H28cm
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Moghul Mausoleum
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Ragmala construction 23cmx8cm