Photo showing a ceramic piece consisting of two blue coloured tree-like forms and an orange glass vessel

Richard Slee: Sunlit Uplands and Withdrawing Rooms

25 September 2026 – 10 January 2027

Included in general admission tickets
Suitable for all ages
Wheelchair accessible

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The Holburne is delighted to present Richard Slee: Sunlit Uplands and Withdrawing Rooms, which brings together major works from the last few years by one of Britain’s most celebrated contemporary ceramic artists.

Sunlit Uplands (2021) takes its name from a trope beloved of certain political figures: Winston Churchill, who used it in his famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech, given in 1940 to inspire the population during the Battle of Britain and, most recently, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who appropriated it to describe a vision of post-Brexit Britain. The installation presents an archipelago of more than 400 individual, meticulously crafted ceramic islands in the centre of the Ballroom. With their references to idyllic landscapes, these high-gloss, brightly coloured ceramics evoke the idealism of the politicised phrase and its inherent artifice.

In the second part of the exhibition, titled Withdrawing Rooms, new and recent works offer a contemporary twist on the concept of interior and exterior. Slee presents numerous examples of an on-going series of picture frames, as well as a pair of oversize ceramic candlesticks, a clock, and six ceramic swans. Slee playfully highlights that there are layers of meaning behind even the most ordinary action.

Installation of ‘Sunlit Uplands’ at Hales Gallery, London, 2023
Richard Slee, Uplands (28), 2021, Glazed ceramic. Image courtesy the Artist and Hales London and New York. © Richard Slee.
Richard Slee, Uplands (1), 2021, Glazed ceramic and cast iron. Image courtesy the Artist and Hales London and New York. © Richard Slee.
$Glazed ceramic with latex in the shape of a abstract swan.$
Richard Slee, Swan, 2019, Glazed ceramic with latex, 26 x 49.5 x 29 cm, R_SLE0513. 1 Image courtesy the Artist and Hales London and New York. © Richard Slee.
Richard Slee, Sunlit Uplands, 2021, Glazed ceramic, 18.4 x 25.9 x 3 cm, R_SLE1027 Image courtesy the Artist and Hales London and New York. © Richard Slee.

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