7 April - 9 May 2015
Exciting solo exhibition by David Ray at his new gallery-home Anna Pappas.
Ray continues to play loosey-goosey with his construction technique this time using torn clay pieces.
This construction give the work a light touch and dynamic energy that would make Duchamp & Boccioni proud.
Trickster also includes his familiar vessel works, loaded with decal and hand painted details.
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| Gallery view |
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| Gargantuan |
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| Ivan Grape |
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| Figure 1 |
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| Flowers |
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| Some old modernist fellas |
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| Jester |
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| Urn |
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| Oxygen |
DAVID RAY: TRICKSTER
A sense of fragility and slap-dash nonchalance plays out among this fantastic new collection of ceramic sculptures by David Ray. His urns, vessels and figures draw upon traditional, finely honed techniques and skill sets, only to subvert and generally screw around with form. His figures are wonderfully deft and sophisticated in their sense of proportion and gesture, yet their details and construction – shavings, flakes and blobs of earthenware – are unlikely in their messiness. Some of the vessels utilise found objects and decals, while other bask in bizarre, abstracted enamel detailing. The figures take a particularly larrikin form – as the show's title alludes – and are a highlight. NGV curator Max Delany wasn't wrong when he recently suggested that wonky ceramics were the new video, but an artist like Ray shows the difference between good and bad grunge. These works are astute and chaotic, clever and goofy; we read them as fragile, antiquated objects and unapologetic shits and giggles.
Until May 9; Anna Pappas Gallery, 2-4 Carlton Street, Prahran, 9521 7300, annapappasgallery.com
Quoted: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/whats-on-in-melbourne-galleries-20150413-1mjqoe.html#ixzz3XtfJspQ9
