Solo Exhibition: Shift
Canfas Gallery, Cardigan, Wales
7th - 28th October 2023
Statement
My current exhibition titled Shift, brings together a selection of drawings and three-dimensional objects curated by colour, highlighting different surfaces, techniques, and influences. Having been a collector since childhood, I assemble household or scientific objects – gifted or gathered from antique shops and car boot sales. I then transform, re-purpose and re-stage them into ceramic sculptures, using my materials of choice - bone china casting slip and porcelain paper clay.
I have several artistic influences. I’m enthused by nature in various forms, often observed during daily woodland walks. I also collect fashion books which feature imaginative and other worldly photographs. These photo images might seem understated, yet closer inspection may reveal dark, unsettling undercurrents. I aim to stir similar emotions through close inspection of my own ceramic pieces.
Studying Ikebana (Japanese art of flower arranging) taught me the importance of assembling disparate items for display and effect. Colour sometimes links my narrative, along with unusual combinations of shape and textures. I work intuitively, often with a limited yet distinctive colour palette. Stark whites; greens reflecting natural shades of lichen and moss; or lilacs, blues, and pinks (in a nod to Japanese wagashi confectionary). Detail is everything - I carefully control the colour intensities of all my pieces, enhancing or muting them in the firing process.
This exhibition reflects the importance I place upon display, colour, and the curation of objects in my artistic practice.
Photos: Adrian Davies Photography
