129 - Alessio Tasca (1929–2020)

Alessio Tasca (1929–2020) Centerpiece Light gray glazed stoneware Date of creation: 1970 H 5.5, W 44, D 44 cm Born in Nove, a historic center of Italian ceramics, Alessio Tasca occupies a unique place in the postwar revival of Italian decorative arts. A ceramist, designer, and sculptor, he began developing a personal formal vocabulary in the 1950s, in which the boundaries between utilitarian objects and sculpture were deliberately blurred. Created in the 1970s, this glazed stoneware centerpiece perfectly illustrates the artist’s exploration of organic geometry and the modulation of surfaces. The understated light gray glaze highlights the sculptural quality of the form and the subtlety of the modeling, hallmarks of Tasca’s mature work. During this period, the artist favored creations with clean, uncluttered forms, in which function remains present without ever taking precedence over the object’s sculptural dimension. This approach, emblematic of 1970s Italian design, contributes today to the growing interest in his work among collectors of contemporary ceramics and radical Italian design. Through its formal balance and the quality of its craftsmanship, this centerpiece demonstrates Alessio Tasca’s ability to elevate the domestic object to the status of a functional sculpture, in a constant dialogue between craftsmanship, design, and artistic experimentation. Born in Nove, a historic center of Venetian ceramics, Alessio Tasca is a ceramicist, designer, and sculptor. As early as the 1950s, he developed a vocabulary in which the boundary between utilitarian objects and sculpture became deliberately blurred, and he took an interest in industrial processes such as clay extrusion. This 1970 centerpiece illustrates his exploration of geometry and the modulation of surfaces: the understated light gray glaze highlights the form’s sculptural quality. Function remains, without ever taking precedence over the sculptural dimension. An object representative of Italian ceramics from that era.