“By drawing from the past while remaining rooted in the present, my work resists rigid classification, encouraging a more fluid and critical engagement with history, identity, and meaning.”
Andrew Mogridge was born in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa in 1969. After obtaining an undergraduate diploma in Graphic Design at the Port Elizabeth Technikon, Mogridge completed an honours degree at Walter Sisulu University, majoring in painting and later going on to lecture at his alma mater. Mogridge plied his craft in the advertising industry, before opening his own design studio. Mogridge currently practices full-time as a fine artist, specialising in ceramics and painting.
“I deliberately engage with and exploit the material properties of my chosen medium, allowing its inherent qualities whether texture, durability, or historical resonance to shape the conceptual and visual outcomes of each piece. Every new work is assigned a title, a kind of symbolic christening, which I intentionally detach from any fixed meaning. This deliberate uncoupling disrupts traditional expectations of interpretation, rendering any subsequent attempts at definitive explanation impractical. By doing so, I create a space where ambiguity thrives, inviting multiple readings and resisting the impulse to impose a singular narrative onto the work. In this way, meaning becomes fluid, shifting according to context, viewer perception, and the passage of time.
“As my primary medium, ceramics possess a unique and defining characteristic: durability. Each piece has the potential to endure for thousands of years, during which time any ideas of ownership or provenance are lost to the traction of history. Stripped of its original context, the artwork transitions into an artifact, absorbed into broader cultural narratives. In this process, faded memories give way to reinterpretation, allowing new meanings and contexts to emerge, shaped by the perspectives of future generations.
“Through a combination of narrative, materiality, and humour, I seek to disrupt conventional ways of thinking, exposing the tensions between tradition and contemporary experience. In doing so, my practice aims to reject institutionalised values, whether in art, history, or broader cultural systems—by reinterpreting established narratives and engaging with alternative perspectives.”
“I deliberately engage with and exploit the material properties of my chosen medium, allowing its inherent qualities whether texture, durability, or historical resonance to shape the conceptual and visual outcomes of each piece. Every new work is assigned a title, a kind of symbolic christening, which I intentionally detach from any fixed meaning. This deliberate uncoupling disrupts traditional expectations of interpretation, rendering any subsequent attempts at definitive explanation impractical. By doing so, I create a space where ambiguity thrives, inviting multiple readings and resisting the impulse to impose a singular narrative onto the work. In this way, meaning becomes fluid, shifting according to context, viewer perception, and the passage of time.
“As my primary medium, ceramics possess a unique and defining characteristic: durability. Each piece has the potential to endure for thousands of years, during which time any ideas of ownership or provenance are lost to the traction of history. Stripped of its original context, the artwork transitions into an artifact, absorbed into broader cultural narratives. In this process, faded memories give way to reinterpretation, allowing new meanings and contexts to emerge, shaped by the perspectives of future generations.
“Through a combination of narrative, materiality, and humour, I seek to disrupt conventional ways of thinking, exposing the tensions between tradition and contemporary experience. In doing so, my practice aims to reject institutionalised values, whether in art, history, or broader cultural systems—by reinterpreting established narratives and engaging with alternative perspectives.”
