Hard and Soft… September 2024
Portrait in the studio with Eros vessel and Happiness tapestry. August 2024.
On September 26th I have an exhibit opening at Oigall Projects in Melbourne. It's titled 'Hard and Soft'.
The process of putting a show together and cementing the theme is a curious one.
The first title for this show was ‘AFTER POMPEII’. One day I was in the elevator at my apartment block, holding a pot of mine, and one of my neighbors commented “Coming back from Pompeii are we? I took this as the deepest compliment as I like to achieve a certain patina with my work.
Next up was 'CRACKPOTS' after experiencing some problems in the making process, and then 'HOUSE AND GARDEN' after my generally domestic decorating tendencies.
And finally ‘HARD and SOFT.'
On an immediate level this is a reference to the fabrication of the pieces. Ceramic, textile and glass. On a more thematic level it’s a reference to the lust for life. One's driving force- instinctive, creative, and sexual. The energy of creation and re-creation, coming and going, in peaks and troughs.
The exhibit is made up of ceramic pieces that I have been producing at Ryan Foote ceramics in Melbourne, glass pieces that I’ve made with glassblower Tom Rowney at Canberra Glassworks, and some of my jacquard textile artwork.
'Happiness' jacquard tapestry artwork.
Editing the palette. It all begins with colour.
Ceramic pieces waiting to be fired.
A successful firing of the new 'Cupid' vessel.
Patina.
The process of making ceramics is fraught with challenges.
This pot fell apart in the firing process.
Planning the staging of the exhibit in my studio.
Putting a body of work together is a process I need to stage and photograph along the way in order to understand where I am at. Have I finished?... This is often a tricky question to answer.
Ceramic and glass pieces will be shown on an assortment of “plinths”… a motley collection I've gathered together. Some from the distant past. Some newly created. Hand-painted furniture and other pieces from my studio along with some marble columns that I’m borrowing from Smith St Bazaar and a new cylindrical column that I’ve made with Brent Hall in Melbourne. There's a table from my stepmother's living room that I remember from when I was 10 years of age. I've given it a coat of black paint and a splattering of white. I hope she won't mind.
'Circus' plinth #1. I've painted and repainted this piece, sanding and rubbing back the layers to produce an aged effect.
New glasswork on my stepmother's table.
'Eros' vessel, black spot on yellow on a table covered in jacquard textile with painted black legs.
There's a lot of time spent evolving your craft. The future lies in the past. In all of the happiness. And all of the sadness. A gathering of experience moving faster daily as the years go by. Ideas gathering momentum and some gathering dust.
You keep creating and recreating. Producing and reproducing........ another version of yourself.
Happy September,
xm
Hard and Soft is at Oigall Projects from September 26 to October 16th.
Tuesday to Saturday from 11.30 am to 5 pm.
122 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, VIC, AU 3065
https://www.instagram.com/oigall_projects/
An early version of the exhibition staging in the studio.