Tony Marsh’s Messenger Vessels, created in the 1990s, are diaristic works that use ceramic form to commemorate contemporary experience. Conceived as intermediary objects, the vessels are meant to transmit meaning rather than serve a utilitarian function. Elemental in form and surface, they emphasize restraint and invite contemplation, evoking reliquaries or funerary urns that carry prayer, memory, warning, and blessing.
The porcelain forms are cast from molds Marsh made of the male reproductive organs of ancient dioecious plants he has cultivated for much of his adult life. Many of these species have existed for over 250 million years and are now threatened with extinction. Rendered in porcelain, the forms suggest both permanence and a ghostlike presence, with each vessel containing a custom pocket for an object of veneration.
