Courtesy of Paul Scott and Ferrin Contemporary, photo credit: John Polak
As its title suggests, Recall. Reframe. Respond. The Art of Paul Scott, the newest exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum, challenges visitors to rethink the way they view historical artworks and reflect on recent history shaping the U.S.
The exhibition that opened on October 10 pairs contemporary British artist Paul Scott’s New American Scenery series—which provides an outsider’s perspective on the political, social, and environmental state of the U.S.—with artworks from CAM’s American Art Collection.
Inspired by a visit to Ohio State University in 1999 and subsequent visits to the U.S., Scott has worked adding new meaning to intricate blue and white ceramic pieces you might see on a vintage tableware display. Many of the historic ceramic pieces that Scott uses in his work were made in the United Kingdom during the late 1800s and early 1900s, yet are filled with Americana imagery to target the U.S. market at that time.
Scott breaks and erases parts of the ceramics, then uses engraving, collage, and screen-printing processes to update the patterns to reflect new American culture. His collection of transferware offers an outsider’s perspective of the U.S., highlighting issues that he feels Americans may overlook and commenting on how the country’s history is portrayed through art.
Courtesy of Paul Scott and Ferrin Contemporary
According to Amy Dehan, curator of decorative arts and design at the CAM, Scott’s work focuses largely on issues of environmental conservation, social justice, and human rights.
His reimagined ceramics feature detailed landscapes from U.S. cities and rural countrysides, showing everything from corner stores and desolate warehouses, to bustling streets, open farmland, and iconic geographical features like New Mexico’s Shiprock Peak. These prints aim to call attention to wealth gaps and the variety of landscapes, neighborhoods, and lifestyles in the country. The images also depict environmental events like the water crisis in Flint and California wildfires, calling attention to the lack of federal aid for minority communities and natural disasters damaging American cities.
According to Dehan, she worked closely with Scott to choose pieces from CAM’s inventory that he could respond to with his own work. “It was a very collaborative process,” she says. “He came to visit Cincinnati about a year ago and he wanted to learn more about our collection and so, we spent a full day and a half going through the works in our galleries. We also went to storage and looked at some of the pieces that aren’t currently on view.”
The two spent most of their time in the Cincinnati wing and the American galleries at the museum, all while Scott drew correlations between CAM’s collection and the pieces he had in his own body of work. According to Dehan, Scott even created new works as responses to pieces in CAM’s collection, drawing on new concepts in the artworks, and encouraging people to look at the pieces from a new perspective.
“He’s made several new pieces for the exhibition that have really strong relationships or correspondence with works from our permanent collection,” she says. “He made a large jug that is kind of a collaged piece, and it draws on imagery from The Daughters of the Revolution, the Grant Wood painting that we have, so he was very keen to make a piece that responded to that.”
Courtesy of Paul Scott and Ferrin Contemporary
Dehan also introduced Scott to Cincinnati artist and printmaker Terrence Hammonds, who then collaborated with Scott on two pieces to be featured in this collection, representing Cincinnati’s unique culture and history.
Alongside Hammonds, Scott created a souvenir plate that examines Cincinnati’s role in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and how the city’s role in civil justice is frequently overlooked.
According to Dehan, the exhibition is broken down into two main galleries which break down who Scott is, what his work entails, and how he uses his medium to create social and political commentary that leans into irony and satire.The galleries will also reflect on the artwork done by CAM’s community committee.
“We recognize, and Paul recognizes this too, his positionality as a white man from Britain. He knows that he can’t completely represent the experiences of all people, so our community committee directed us to some folks who were interested in creating community responses to Paul’s work,” says Dehan. “So not only is Paul responding to someone’s existing works, but they’re now responding to his works, which is really great.” Dehan says.
Additionally, Scott has created a limited-edition letterpress artist book to go along with the collection, which will debut at the exhibition.
In an effort to make Recall. Reframe. Respond. even more inclusive, the CAM has partnered with the Clovernook Center for the Blind a Visually Impaired. The institution will provide Braile labels for the exhibition, as well as 3D models of the artwork, so guests can feel the shape of the piece.
Recall. Reframe. Respond. The Art of Paul Scott will be on display in the Waddell and Mayerson Galleries of the Cincinnati Art Museum from Oct 10-Jan 6, 2026.
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