Gabriel John Poucher

BIo

Gabriel John Poucher is a ceramic artist from Northeast Ohio. His work examines technology, ecology, and the impact of the anthropocene through the lens of queer theory and the materiality of ceramics. He was a 2023 presenter and exhibitor at the Yuma Arts Symposium, and has exhibited sculptural and functional ceramics nationally. He received his BFA in Crafts from Kent State University in 2017, and his MFA in Ceramic Art from Alfred University in 2024. He is currently the 2024-2025 Ceramic Artist in Residence at Lawrence Art Center.

Artist Statement

Trash, for better or worse, is a defining feature of the Anthropocene. It’s an object (or hyperobject, for Timothy Morton) of study that the bulk of my work hinges on. My sculptural work approaches its infiltration of the environment from a starkly ecological, post-humanist perspective. My functional pieces are also concerned with trash, but take a more anthropological, somewhat whimsical glance into the future, because it’s no fun to be a bummer all the time.

I affectionately refer to this series of work as “spacetrash.” I think of these pieces as speculative future refuse: utilitarian objects that have been damaged and discarded, but then collected for display, consideration. Like an artifact (but from the future, dude), they’re imbued with preciousness by virtue of their recovery. The wear and tear on their surfaces is “real,” but also intentional - I’ll often take time to make the defacement “just right.” They’re recognizably futuristic, but made from one of the oldest craft materials. And shouldn’t futurism, as a contemporaneously recognizable style, preclude its own existence? “spacetrash” are paradoxical objects, a little bit lost and a little bit silly.

Aesthetically, they draw from a range of pulp science fiction, animation, and illustration. They provide space to consider our relationship to craft, temporality, artifact, and artifice (from a playful distance). The colors are vibrant and the patterns maximal; this is The Jetsons, Futurama, or at bleakest Star Wars - not Blade Runner. Sometimes I’ve got to stop thinking about how full of microplastics I am and remember that it’s fun to make cups.

Exhibitions