TEMPERATURES is an occasional publication about artists using clay. Each 24-page issue focuses on a single artist whose distinctive sensibility is advancing the conversation around ceramic art. The design and concept of the issue is a collaborative process that utilizes the printed format to provide a more expansive context for the work.

Vol. 4 features the work of Rob Raphael (US), an artist based in Brooklyn, NY. This issue presents Raphael’s recent sculptures alongside his research into three seemingly disparate areas of interest: the joyful, homoerotic imagery of ancient Etruscan tombs and artifacts; the troubling, propagandistic beauty of Italian Rationalist architecture created under Mussolini’s fascist government; and the complex life and artwork of artist Corrado Cagli, notable for his Jewish-Queer identity and association with the fascist regime. Drawing from the corroding surfaces of Etruscan mirrors, drawings by Cagli, and Italian Rationalist geometry, Raphael layers these complicated histories into dimensional, porcelain compositions in which structure and ornament harmoniously coexist. Etruscan Places, by D. H. Lawrence was an inspiration during the creation of this issue and selected excerpts are reprinted throughout.