Reviews
Innovative Ceramics: Melbourne – Hong Kong
A Shared Perspective
The recent survey, Innovative Ceramics, at Nellie Castan Gallery acknowledged the talents and unique cross-cultural perspective fostered by RMIT’s studio ceramics program. Two years in development, the exhibition included sixty-six works from twenty-eight artists, half drawn from Australia and the rest from Hong Kong, mainland China, and Taiwan.
Although diverse and encompassing a range of techniques and practice, the works seemed expressive of a certain commonality of purpose and experience. The artists’ engagement with contemporary issues was immediately apparent, as was the considerable sophistication achieved.
Anissa Siu-Han Fung’s delicate work was informed by her research on Chinese ritual objects, and symbolism in ritual art. Fung’s reinterpretation of the patterns, icons, and paraphernalia she sees in the ceremonial practices of modern Hong Kong evoke the ephemeral. Ya-Chu Hsieh’s A Living Soul (2005) series has an enticing allure with an underlying sinister edge. Hsieh is concerned with changes in cultural and spiritual attitudes and their relationship to scientific development over the last century. The tension between nature and technology is also implied: “I aim to investigate these changes through examining the development of toys and how they reflect changes in community perceptions,” Hsieh explains.
Several artists chose to concentrate on our interaction with domestic or utilitarian objects, how these define or enrich our sense of space, and to what extent we subconsciously rely on their presence for a feeling of order. Marianne Huhn’s Boundaries (2006) focus on the idea of life as a series of maps, both geographic and emotional. “I continue to make functional pieces … because I still believe in the relationships we have with our everyday objects,” she says. “These objects have meaning in our lives because they relate to us through touch, the lines of their form, and their narratives.”
Close observation of the natural world provided inspiration for many contributors. Katrin Chittams’ undulating Southern Spaces (2005) expresses her reaction towards the South Australian coastline, and the relationship between land and sky. Mon-Xi Wu’s Contrasting Rhythm #1, #6, #8 (2006), bulbous organic forms in raku clay, are reminiscent of seeds, buds, or fruit. “These works reinterpret botanic obiects with reference to positive-negative concepts such as rough/smooth, inside/outside, and hollow/ full,” observes Wu. “They are not only the source of my inspiration, but also the objects that record my living experience.”
Of the more abstract pieces, some artists were primarily concerned with exploring the parameters of the medium. Of her work, Untitled (2006), Titania Henderson contends, “My goal has been to challenge the long-standing beliefs associated with the use of bone china as a material suitable for slip casting only.” Graceful paired waves seem to float, suspended in the air like arcs of corrugated sugar. “I am attempting to create sculptural forms with the visual fragility of paper, whilst making the most of the translucency of the material qualities,” she reflects.
Rachel Wai-sze Cheung’s cool, precise shapes utilised the vulnerability of ceramics, the seemingly precarious angles serving as a metaphor for the unpredictable and contradictory. Equilibrium XI (2003) probes the nature of support and balance, while Shaping Space (2003) defied the audience to stand on its embracing white ribbons.
For the artists involved, Innovative Ceramics provided a singular opportunity to appraise each other’s work and discover a shared perspective, while fostering a sense of camaraderie amongst peers separated by distance, if not in spirit.
Inga Walton
TITANIA HENDERSON 