Sergei Isupov, The Kiss, porcelain.
Cracks in the Surface
21 March 2006
Ceramics. Controversy. Not two words you hear together often. Unless… Oh never mind….
Back to the ceramics… Since January this year, Adelaide’s JamFactory has been home and host to three internationally renowned ceramists – the UK’s Stephen Dixon and Paul Scott and Estonian-born American Sergei Isupov. Offered the opportunity to live and work in South Australia, immersed in all its cultural, social and artistic on goings, the three artists were given the unique chance to experiment with different materials while exploring and representing their research on some of the socio-cultural differences they encountered. Workshops, demonstrations and talks continue to take place throughout the placement, which was devised by JamFactory as a means for stimulating creative research and international dialogues about the exchange of practices, ideas and cultures.
Opening this week, Surface Tension brings together the work of Dixon, Scott and Isupov for the first time and it features both works previously exhibited overseas and the fruits of the South Australian labours. Each has a particularly distinct take on the art of ceramics and each uses the medium to make various comments on popular and contemporary culture, art history and ceramic traditions.
Isupov’s body of surrealist works realise in three-dimensional form a number of art historical traditions and theories – from 18th century miniatures to Freudian notions of sexuality. Herein the controversial element... His pieces, which are often autobiographical, are known for their tattoo-esque paintings of anatomically correct images including hands and feet as well as mythological type beasts that explore male and female relationships often in quite graphic sexual terms, such as can be seen in his porcelain piece The Kiss. Isupov’s work, which is held in private collections and galleries throughout Europe was most recently shown at the National Gallery of Australia’s Transformations: The Language of Craft exhibition.
Stephen Dixon’s works also maintain a topical and at times controversial currency. Working with more traditional ceramics – wall plates and the like – Dixon’s pieces are part pop collage, part fine art work, with silk screen graphic images overlaying expressive brush work and sculptural tableaux. Dixon’s politically motivated works are the result of extensive reading and research, with much of his material (old floral plates for example) sourced from second hand shops. Found images and carefully crafted motifs are brought together to create works that address pertinent social and cultural issues. A recent winner of the Arts Council England International Research Fellowship, Dixon was involved in the Victoria and Albert’s annual Collect exhibition earlier this year.
Compatriot Paul Scott is a widely published and respected author on the techniques and contemporary trends of ceramic art – so he’s probably better placed than most when it comes to using (and abusing) classical glazes (think the ol’ blue and white Wedgwood…) and 18th and 19th century decorative practices. Using traditional techniques for printing and transferring graphics, Scott creates ostensibly decorative pieces – functional forms featuring trees and birds – that upon closer inspection in fact show dark, gritty urban images of industry, a visual oxymoron of decoration and urban decay.
Part of JamFactory’s ongoing Artist in Residency programs, Surface Tension will be on display until 28 May.
More Information
Surface Tension
25 March – 28 May
JamFactory
19 Morphett St Adelaide
Mon – Fri: 9am to 5.30pm | Sat: 10am to 5pm | Sun: 1 – 5pm
Admission Free.
Website: http://www.jamfactory.org.au/
