Exhibition: Making History: The Ceramic Work of Simon Pettet

A young and gifted ceramicist, Simon Pettet reimagined 17th and 18th-century blue-and-white pottery employing traditional techniques and historical references in order to create something new and fresh. He was inspired by Dennis to make multiple pieces of this delftware – from tiles to tulip vases – which continue to enliven Dennis Severs’ House.

Simon met Dennis outside Heaven nightclub as an eighteen-year-old art student in 1983 and moved in with him shortly after. Personally and creatively Dennis and his Spitalfields home opened a new world of possibilities that allowed Simon’s work to develop in a unique way. Simon died HIV positive at the age of twenty-eight in 1993 having produced a significant body of accomplished work including profile pots, a marriage plate, obelisks and mugs. His masterpiece is a fireplace in the Master Bedroom of 18 Folgate Street comprising a set of tiles depicting Spitalfields personalities of the 1980s, including Gilbert & George, Dan Cruickshank and Langlands & Bell.

The work in the exhibition will form a powerful installation within the dramatic setting of Dennis Severs’ House and will include previously unseen pieces from private collections. The largest selection of Simon Pettet’s work ever shown publicly, it will permit for the first time an assessment of his remarkable achievement in the place where he lived and worked.

Ian has Visited - review here.