Above is an outstanding piece by painter and ceramicist Victor Greenway; First as a large departure from his far more practical works surrounding bowls and small vessels, but secondly as an artefact deceiving in its origin. At first glance one sees a worn river stone, revealing eons of sedimentary layers, lashings of turquoise and deep oaken browns over a pristine cream surface; The purity of the original clay being the only hint of it’s orchestration.

Greenway puzzles the critic to venture into such a provocative work with little fanfare; A subversion of his major body of work consisting of investigations into Italian cities through impressionistic perspective paintings and subdued Bucchero’s. The Buccero left jet black and without ornament or symbol, articulated through signature creases flowing upwards along their surface often to torn edges, breaking the perfect circles that would enclose the internal volume. Perhaps this work presented before us aims to provide the inverse relationship? His more typical works in porcelain challenge the impossible purity of a perfect edge through deformation till torn, reintroduced a natural motif. The converse applies to the pebble, at first glance smoothed by river currents but rough in patina, speckles, ribbons and stains of visual texture, all surrounding a clarity fired clay could only provide.

Though this work stands as an outlier to the work of Greenway, it may be seen as more powerful as the antithesis of his major pursuits. As a foil to a motif of imperfection, added with care, but orchestrated nonetheless, to place this work amongst what it attempts to reproduce would still leave it as an outlier. As Greenway’s tare would never be seen as accidental and adds character to his work, the vivid tones of the pebble would equally bring it to the foreground of one's attention. To surprise and intrigue, but never to fool.