SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Highlighting the revived medium of ceramics, SFMOMA presents New Work: Tiago Carneiro da Cunha and Klara Kristalova (July 8th through October 30th), an exhibition that pairs figurative ceramic sculpture by two contemporary artists who are infusing the medium’s unassuming form with complex political and artistic references. Carneiro da Cunha lives and work in Brazil, and Kristalova is based in Sweden, but, despite very different cultural backgrounds, they work in a strikingly similar vein. Each artist draws on ceramics’ association with childhood craft projects, making sculptures that conjure characters from fairy tales or comic books. The objects’ distorted surfaces and rough glazing may suggest child’s play, but these elements of simplicity and exuberance quickly yield to more serious concepts and darker visions. Crafting intentional imperfections into their work, Carneiro da Cunha and Kristalova subvert the assumed innocence of childlike expression and suggest history’s dark potential to repeat itself if children (or adults) are told falsehoods about the simplistic nature of the world.