Kai Althoff Goes with Bernard Leach

Kai Althoff stages ceramic works by modernist potter Bernard Leach in poetical mise-en-scènes at the Whitechapel Gallery
German artist Kai Althoff (born 1966) is renowned as a figurative painter and creator of all-encompassing poetic environments that incorporate textiles, photographs, drawings and artifacts. Althoff draws from a wide range of literary, cultural and artistic influences in his work, and for his unique display at Whitechapel Gallery in London he pays tribute to British potter Bernard Leach (1887–1979), selecting around 20 of Leach’s ceramic vessels and tiles from the 1920s onward to be displayed in specially designed vitrines.\nAs a counterpoint to Leach’s own work, Althoff presents his own new paintings and sculptural installations, as well as recent pieces that bring together fabrics, found material and paintings inspired by Japonisme.