Formula for the Perfect Pot

 Formula for the Perfect Pot……. takes its starting point from the artist’s memories of his days as a student training at art school. Originally trained in the areas of Design Crafts and 3D design and mastering techniques such as glass-blowing, ceramics and furniture design, Minsky takes us back to his roots.

Relaying a memory from a class at art school, Minsky stages a performance about crafts and asks us to think about our own understanding of that practice. Does the world of crafts imply the production of a domestic object? And, when we hear the word craft do we think of something governed by skill or something friendly, comfortable and cosy?

Crucially, does the amount of skill involved in making an object affect the value of that object or the amount of value we understand it to have? And, how do we judge skill?Formula for the Perfect Pot also links to Minsky’s previous performances, Best Kept Secret (June 2006) and his winning entry for the Crosby Homes Art Prize Get In … Get Out (June 2004). In both of these pieces, the artist explored the art/life dichotomy by attempting to blur the boundaries between the areas of art, sport and consumerism.

Following on from these, Formula for the Perfect Pot asks us to think about how the world of arts and crafts intersects with different areas to comment on issues of value, status, taste and competition. Can the competitiveness of the art world be compared to the world of sport? Is it possible to link them? And, just how invested are we in the act of winning?