Manuel Mathieu (b. 1986) is a multi-disciplinary artist, working with painting, ceramics, film, and installation. Mathieu’s interests are partially informed from his upbringing in Haiti – just after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship – and his experience emigrating to Montréal at the age of 19. His art investigates themes of historical violence, erasure, resilience and cultural approaches to physicality, nature and spiritual legacy.

He obtained an MFA Degree from Goldsmiths, University of London. He had solo exhibitions at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Power Plant (Toronto) and the Longlati Foundation (Beijing). He will soon open an exhibition at K11 (Shanghai). The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami and the Max Ernst Museum (Brühl) will present exhibitions by Mathieu in 2024 and 2025. He received the Best Short Film Award at the 2023 Festival International des Films sur l’Art.

About the International Ceramic Art Fair

The International Ceramic Art Fair (ICAF) is a 10-day celebration of some of the most compelling recent ceramic art, featuring works by emerging and established artists from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as online and in-person programming by artists and curators.

Many artists are reconsidering how we define ourselves as a species and how these changing definitions can alter our relationships to each other, to other animals and life forms, and to the land we inhabit. The separation of the human and non-human is increasingly understood as porous or insignificant. Clay can be seen as a mediator between the human and non-human, blurring the boundaries with its life-giving properties, its capacity to record and hold human memory, its characteristic of absorption, and its capacity to connect us to the land.

How can we re-orient our relationship to the planet through a more nuanced understanding of our connection to other forms of life? How can emerging discourses of the human shift us toward new and generative understandings of our bodies place in the world?

Join us to view the works at ICAF and participate in the accompanying programs to explore these and other questions.

With thanks to our 2023 Honorary Committee

The Hon. Hilary M. Weston, Chair / James Appleyard / David Binet / James Burn / Yvonne Fleck / Ydessa Hendeles / Victoria Jackman / Nancy Lockhart / Gay Longo / Margaret McCain / David Mirvish / Kent Monkman / Melanie Munk / Mia Nielsen / Lynda Prince / Eleanor Shen