Vases nailed to the wall, urns smashed by baseball bats, soup tureens sliced by machetes: the porcelain sculptures of Laurent Craste are highly dramatic. I've admired his artwork at recent art fairs in New York, Miami and Toronto. His "Abuse" series is particularly shocking to come across among the tamer photography and painting booths at art fairs.

Now based in Montreal, Laurent Craste grew up in Orleans, France in the presence of ornate buildings and architecture, statues and other artwork. He spent a lot of time visiting family in Versailles, often walking the family dog in the Versailles castle park. Ancient areas and ruins were a part of his daily childhood life.

Craste's artwork explores the many layers and meanings of decorative collectibles: as indicators of social status and class, and demonstrators of power, wealth and politics. He is fascinated by vandalism, especially that which accompanies revolution "when the works of art are destroyed because they incarnate an ideology, or symbolize a specific social class." The sculptures in Laurent Craste's "Abuse" series combine traditional porcelain and violent objects in a surprising yet beautiful way.

See more of Laurent Craste's works at his gallery's website Galerie SAS. Read a recent interview over at Dirty Mag.

Shown in the Images:
• La fin d'une potiche II (2012)
• Dépouille aux "Fleurs bleu de Delft" (2012)
• Adof Loos' wet dream II (2011)

(Images: Galerie SAS)