Greg payce biography

This sculptural installation by contemporary Canadian ceramicist, Greg Payce is an exciting new acquisition to the WAG’s permanent collection generously gifted to the Gallery by the artist.

The title, “Orrery”, references the popular astronomic mechanical model used to represent the positions, motions, and phases of the solar system.

Greg payce biography

Here, the artist has borrowed the circular, mobile aesthetic of a traditional orrery and adapted the functional mechanized elements to rotate his ceramic pieces in a way that animates the negative spaces between the vessel’s forms.

The spatial profiles between each of the twenty-four carefully aligned vessels reveals the outline of male and female bodies in place of the solar planets.

The human forms that appear between the ceramic components are idealized and generalized, opening the work to what has been described as an “erotic interpretation”.

Historically, ceramics have often engaged the body and its functions. For instance, erotic referen