Alex Solomon
Willoughby Girls High School
INFECTIONS
Ceramics
Terracotta clay
Overgrown with infectious moulds, corrupted by toxic spores, growing with living diseases. One might step back in fear, or is it awe? Repulsed by our disgust, the true and complex beauty of infections is hidden right beneath our eyes. Survival is plausible, but only by clinging to each other: in infectious colonies.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Beate Kuhn, Arlene Shechet, Tony Marsh.
Marker's Commentary
The visually inviting body of work, Infections, has investigated organic forms consisting of highly textured surfaces in both three-dimensional and two-dimensional pieces. The three large ceramic vessels present an effective use of unrealistic, surreal colour and organic shape, with emphasis on both positive and negative space to create unique representations of living organisms. Initially inviting, like illuminated coral in appearance, closer inspection suggests more sinister forms.
Techniques such as incising and carving with additional shapes have been used to create three-dimensional sculptural forms further exploring ideas related to toxicity, corruption and infection, with links to environmental issues clearly evident. The dynamic two-dimensional hyper-real image provides us with an additional exploration of these themes through the overlapping of imagery to convey a microenvironment that has learnt to adapt itself for survival.