Hoffmann has been working with ceramics for some eighteen years. What sets him apart, however, is that he has never regarded himself as a 'potter' or a ceramicist, but simply as an artist. (He insists that he has never even had any formal ceramic training). Rather, he uses the three-dimensional surfaces of vases, plates, bowls, tile panels and small sculptures as 'canvases' for his icon-like images; and his art is often infused with personal concerns about identity and sexuality, as well as mythical and mystical allusions.

In this respect, his work can be favourably compared with that of controversial London ceramic artist, Grayson Perry, winner of the prestigious Turner Prize in 2003. Perry's 'improper, semi-autobiographical' pots typically depict controversial topics, such as sex and child abuse, yet they are aesthetically exquisite. In his acceptance speech , on receiving his award, Perry declared: 'I want to make something that lives with the eye as a beautiful piece of art, but, on closer inspection, a polemic or an ideology will come out of it'. This is a statement that could apply as well to the work of Ruan Hoffmann.

Ceramics' popularly thought-of status as a craft - rather than as a contemporary form of art production - is an issue that Hoffmann thrives in subverting. By focusing on the medium's fragility, combined with a discriminating eye for details and painstaking craftsmanship, he finds a sympathetic vehicle for expressing concerns that span both the present and the past.

Unlike some other forms of art, ceramic art often forces the artist to negotiate with the built-in diosyncrasies of the medium. Thus, in Hoffman's work, casual and accidental elements frequently interrupt the process and induce surprising results. These spontaneous mishaps are part of the ceramic medium itself, and serve to make his work particular exciting'.
Thus, for Hoffmann 'a plate is not just a plate, and a pot not always a pot: firstly not in a strictly utilitarian sense', observes artist, art writer and UNISA lecturer, Prof. Frikkie Eksteen. ' The artist is very quick to point out that none of his objects are meant to be functional. The plates are often covered in thick clay textures, making them clearly unpractical as serving bowls, and the vases, replete with unsealed imperfections, will not hold any liquid. From what I gather, the artist sees their dysfunction as a sign of autonomy'.

Secondly, and more significantly, adds Eksteen, 'for Hoffmann, a bowl is sometimes also a cosmic field, an area of confinement, a vast region of emptiness, and a vase can be a throbbing, mutating mass upon which an array of characters and words swell and churn…In what may appear to be predictable decorative conventions, dark, cynical, sometimes funny, yet often poignant, subject matter causes an uneasy stirring'. (Click here to read the entire article).

Hoffmann's first important solo exhibition at Franchise Gallery in Johannesburg, in September 2005, was the culminaton of three years of working and exploring every possible aspect of the clay medium. With a total of some 30 vases/urns and more than 500 circular paintings on plates, the exhibition could be described as the first major solo show of fine art ceramics on this scale in South Africa.

A few months later - in February 2006 - Hoffmann had a private viewing of his plates in Pretoria. Their caustic, tongue-in-cheek wit was hailed by Pretoria News art reviewer, Miranthe Staden-Garbett, who enthused: 'With their dry wit, cantankerous edges and poisonous glazes, they would be hard to swallow, were they, or anything served on them, meant for human consumption. Unpalatable, though they may be, as a feast for the eye, they are spot-on'. (Click here to read the entire article).

Hoffmann, however, has successfully explored various other media for his emotive imagery, His recent exhibition at the University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery (16 October- 14 November 2008), followed shortly after his return from a 2007 residency at the Franz Masereel Centrum in Kasterlee, Belgium, where he completed a series of lithographs and participated in several group shows.

Earlier this year, selected works were included in the Universiy of Pretoria Centenary Exhibition, followed by a group show.
His latest work,however, once again continues his exploration in clay . After working in slip casts for several years, Hoffmann has begun to further develop the clay as canvas by experimenting with paper clay and shaping the plates in various forms. This method has significantly expanded the definition of his work.

"Thematically, his imagery is the expression of his personal life and experience', sums up a reviewer of his Stellenbosch show, 'and therefore retains a sincerity which completes the metaphor of the honesty of the clay'

RUAN HOFFMANN Dew Drop Dead Inn	RUAN HOFFMANN Hell Boy Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Orange On Grey Flowers
RUAN HOFFMANN Serious Art	RUAN HOFFMANN Careful What You Wish For	RUAN HOFFMANN Pavilion
RUAN HOFFMANN Dr Doom	RUAN HOFFMANN You Were Not The Perfect Parent	RUAN HOFFMANN We're Idiots Because We Don't Know What's Causing It
RUAN HOFFMANN Nada	RUAN HOFFMANN Monster Plant	RUAN HOFFMANN RH 21 10 09
RUAN HOFFMANN RH 2008	RUAN HOFFMANN The End of Another Relationship	RUAN HOFFMANN Begging For It
RUAN HOFFMANN I Think It's Better For You To Cling To Your Art Rather Than Me	RUAN HOFFMANN Silly Girl	RUAN HOFFMANN Untitled Orange/Pink Portrait
RUAN HOFFMANN Untitled - Blue Glass Centre Yellow Edge	RUAN HOFFMANN Another Fucking Skeleton	RUAN HOFFMANN Middle Distance
RUAN HOFFMANN Green Face	RUAN HOFFMANN Fake Orchidaceae	RUAN HOFFMANN Blue Nose
RUAN HOFFMANN It's Coming For You Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Green Flowers	RUAN HOFFMANN Scared Shitless
RUAN HOFFMANN One More Year	RUAN HOFFMANN Howling Wind	RUAN HOFFMANN Orange Flowers Sold
RUAN HOFFMANN Dissolved	RUAN HOFFMANN Love Hate	RUAN HOFFMANN Guru

RUAN HOFFMANN Going Where?

RUAN HOFFMANN Crocodile Tears Sold

RUAN HOFFMANN Brave New World

RUAN HOFFMANN Inane

RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold
RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold
RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold
RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Vase Sold	RUAN HOFFMANN Golden Pagoda Hotel, Fire Island Sold
RUAN HOFFMANN Plate	RUAN HOFFMANN Plate	RUAN HOFFMANN Plate
RUAN HOFFMANN Plate	RUAN HOFFMANN Plate	RUAN HOFFMANN Plate

RUAN HOFFMANN Plate

RUAN HOFFMANN Plate