About
Lawrence Epps is an artist based at Wysing Arts Centre exploring the collective attribution of value to objects processes and people.

His works are tactile and seductive, made predominantly in ceramics, but he has become known for playfully redrawing the rules in which his artworks are accessed, causing both delight and frustration in international audiences as they wrestle with the process of having or not having an artwork, occasionally causing mayhem in the gallery.

His recent installations focus on redressing power dynamics: drawing attention to hidden biases, notions of success and the nature of chance. His practice ranges from traditional ceramic processes such as terracotta extrusion in a brick manufacturing plant and slip-casting, to adapted fairground machines, moving image, and app-design.

Epps' 2019 residency at the Jingdezhen International Studio in China, developed into
Accolade: a collaboration with statistician (and 'national treasure') Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, to make an intricate work of chance (slumped ceramic trophies, an iPad app, £2000 of gold bullion and a sushi conveyor belt which confronts societal biases head-on to re-level the playing field.

He is a founder member of ambergris editions with the artist Lisa Wilkens and in 2015 he edited the book the very last time together with the poet and writer Holly Corfield Carr to accompany his installation AGAIN. Epps is also a member of the Sykey Art Collective - a group making public statements through art, responsible for the nighttime interventions of 14,000 ceramic sculptures placed across the cities of London, Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent in large scale participatory art events.

In 2017 Museum Jorn, Denmark, commission Take Stock, a major installation from Epps to be part of the critically acclaimed show Ler! / Clay! curated by Karen Friis Herbsleb, which received record visitor numbers. his solo exhibitions include: AGAIN at Firstsite, Colchester, 2015; The Shit Job Machine at The Front Room, Cambridge, 2014; Take Stock, a pavilion at the 2013 British Ceramics Biennial. Group exhibitions include: A Taste of Ceramics, Taoxichuan Gallery, China, 2019; Hooked, Science Gallery, London, 2018; States of Play at Humber Street Gallery, Hull UK City of Culture; the British Ceramic Biennials 2019, 2015 and 2011; Body Double Frederick Meijer Sculpture Park, USA, 2012; FutureEverything at MOSI, Manchester; interventions in London, Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent 2012. Residencies include Jingdezhen International Studio, China, The European Ceramic Work Centre, Holland, Brownhills Clay Quarry and Ibstock Bricks.

Epps' work is in the collections of Crafts Council and Fitzwilliam Museum.


Exhibitions

2020 A Taste of Ceramics
Yaozhou Kiln and Taoxichuan Art Museum, Yaozhou, China

2019 British Ceramics Biennial
Stoke-on-Trent

2019 A Taste of Ceramics
Taoxichuan Art Gallery, Jingdezhen, China

2018 HOOKED
Science Gallery London

2018
LER! / CLAY!
Museum Jorn, Denmark

2017 States of Play
The Humber Street Gallery, Hull

2016 Big Ceramics
Wolverhampton Art Gallery

2015 Wysing Arts Centre at the Sunday Art Fair
P3 Ambika, London

2015
The British Ceramics Biennial
Disused Spode Factory, Stoke-on-Trent

2015 Again / the very last time
Firstsite, Colchester

2015 fig-2
ICA, London

2015 ESP Variety Show XIII
Aid and Abet, Cambridge

2015 The Variety Show
Primary, Nottingham

2015 Occupation
Firstsite, Colchester

2014 Demolition
Aid & Abet, Cambridge

2014 The Shit Job Machine
The Front Room, Cambridge

2013 Take Stock Pavilion at the British Ceramics Biennial
Disused Spode Factory, Stoke-on-Trent

2013 International Ceramics Festival
Aberystwyth Arts Centre

2012 Body Double
Frederick Meijer Sculpture Park, Michigan, United States

2012 Design Week at the V & A
The Victoria & Albert Museum, London

2012 FutureEverything
Museum of Science and Indutry, Manchester

2012 From Tradition to Innovation
CAA Gallery, London

2011 British Ceramics Biennial
Disused Spode Factory, Stoke-On-Trent

2011 Mint Explores
Mint Gallery, London

2011 Replace Fear of the Unknown with Uncertainty
P3 Ambika, London

2010 Unsplit Peak Problems
Royal College of Art Sculpture Department, London

2010 Natural Selection
London Gallery West

2009 Elemental Tales
London Gallery West


Interventions

2012
8,000 little clay men distributed across the streets of Manchester
2011 6,000 little clay men distributed across London and Stoke-On-Trent


Collections

2019
The Fitzwilliam Museum
2019 The Crafts Council


Residencies & Retreats

2019 Jingdezhen International Studio
Jingdezhen, China

2015 Firstsite, Colchester
Residency at Firstsite Gallery

2013 British Ceramics Biennial
Residency in association with Ibstock Bricks and Potclays

2013 Wysing Arts Centre
How We Make and How We Might Make Artists' Retreat

2012 European Ceramic Work Centre / Sundaymorning@ekwc
3 month Development Residency


Talks and Lectures

2020 Wysing Arts Centre
2019 British Ceramics Biennial
2018 Museum Jorn, Denmark
2015 Firstsite Gallery
2015 Bath Spa University
2013 British Ceramics Biennial in association with the University of Bergen
2013 International Ceramics Festival
2012 Frederick Meijer Sculpture Park
2012 FutureEverything Festival


Awards

2011 British Ceramics Biennial Fresh Award


Education

2011 BA (hons) Ceramics , University of Westminster


Publications

2018 LER! CLAY!
Museum Jorn

2016 Kitchen Foil Print Portfolio
published by ambergris editions

2015 the very last time
A book to accompany the installation AGAIN edited by Lawrence Epps and Holly Corfield Carr to accompany Again and featuring contributions by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Esther Leslie, Viktor Mazin, Joey Connolly, Geoffrey Munn, Tamarin Norwood, Marie Toseland and 2 new translations by Anna Gunin and Anne Marie-Jackson

2014 Where do you see yourself in twenty-five years?
Wysing Arts Centre

2014 Dreckapotheke
by Holly Corfield Carr

2012 From Tradition to Innovation
Ceramics Research Group


Selected Press

2016 Cfile
Take Stock by Lawrence Epps is a Monument to Menial Office Work

2014 Slate the Disco
Review

2013 Ceramic Review / Material World
Taking Stock Interview

2013 Artists Newsletter
History and Contemporary Practice Collide

2013 CFILE
Lawrence Epps at the British Ceramics Biennial

2013
FutureEverything / Human Resources Microsite

2012 BBC News
Little Clay Men Invade Manchester

2012 Vimeo
Human Resources Interview at the Museum of Science and Industry

2012 Manchester Evening News
Various

2012 BBC Radio Manchester
The Breakfast Show

2011 Crafts Magazine
Pride and the Potteries

2011 The Guardian
British Ceramics Biennial Brings Signs of a Potteries Revival

2011 Ceramics Review
Leaving the Corporate World

Links

Sykey Art Collective
Wysing Arts Centre
Aid & Abet
FutureEverything
British Ceramics Biennial
Youtube Channel
Vimeo Channel