Friday, October 11, 2013

Clunes Ceramic award - ZERO ONE




ZERO ONE


These vessels recall the Victorian taxonomists’ careful documentation of the mysteries of nature; the urge to separate and preserve in isolation parts of a living and contiguous world beyond immediate comprehension.  The work explores the hybrid status of these objects: between nature and representation, art and science.

The vessels mysterious forms elude classification: are they organic or mineral? Living or dead? Marine or terrestrial? Alien or earthly? Art or science?

These forms exist in an elegant state of suspended animation, separated from one another by the artifices of science, they call upon us to unravel their mysteries; interrogate their connections. We are required, in looking at these works, to examine our position as passive observers and to engage in a narrative process of rebuilding and reconnection.

Detail of ZERO ONE: