Kelli Bedrossian's Minotaur Bowl

Kelli Bedrossian (20th–21st century) “Minotaur” Bowl, Slip-coated ceramic with incised decoration. This ceramic bowl illustrates the unique world of Kelli Bedrossian, where the legacy of ancient myths blends with a contemporary sensibility to gesture and material. The piece takes on a generous circular form, the interior of which constitutes a veritable narrative space: a Minotaur, depicted in a dynamic pose, unfolds within it according to an incised line of great spontaneity. The decoration, created by incision in the dark slip, reveals an orange line that makes the silhouette of the mythological figure vibrate. This contrast between the matte density of the black background and the earthy brilliance of the engraved lines gives the scene an almost archaic presence, evoking both the figures of ancient Greek ceramics and modern graphic explorations. The Minotaur appears not as a monstrous creature, but as an energetic and powerfully sculpted being, whose muscular contours and the movement of its arm establish a circular rhythm within the bowl. The composition perfectly follows the curve of the vessel, demonstrating Bedrossian's ability to integrate drawing and volume into a poetic unity. The piece thus oscillates between sculpture and ceramic painting, between mythological heritage and artistic freedom. It testifies to the artist's taste for archaic forms reinterpreted with a lively, spontaneous, almost calligraphic graphic style—a language where myth becomes matter, gesture, and vibration. This Minotaur Bowl is a representative example of Kelli Bedrossian's work: an inhabited, expressive ceramic, where the human (or mythical) figure becomes the vehicle for a revisited symbolic memory.