By Penny Craswell
Sydney ceramicist Scott Duncan’s new solo exhibition at the Arthouse Gallery presents an intelligent and humorous body of work made with a deftness of touch that only comes from years dedicated to the craft of making.
Amphora vases, wall pieces and oversized sculptures line the walls, each with a round face roughly rendered in smiles, frowns and grimaces. One of humanity’s quirks is that we see faces everywhere and anywhere – and there is just enough in these to give each work a palpable personality – this one is sassy, that one sad, this one gleeful and so on. The forms themselves reference ceramics history, clearly drawing on forms from the Italian and Greek pots of the classical period.
Read more: Review: Scott Duncan Garden of Earthenware DelightThe faces look like corrugated cardboard that’s been sourced from old boxes – these designs were partly inspired by the boxes of fruit and veg that Scott receives regularly working as a chef. The ingenuity of that combination – pot, recycled corrugated cardboard and crudely punched out eyes, noses and mouths – results in a totally unique form.
And the way they are made – all hand rolled without the use of moulds or even slab rollers – speaks to Scott’s passion for clay. According to Elli Walsh who wrote the catalogue statement, “Duncan manually rolls out his clay like lasagna sheets, carefully layering each piece as if making shortcrust pastry”. As a regular at the cafe where Scott works I can attest to his excellence in the kitchen.
Lighthearted and beautifully made, Scott’s show is a must-see – and, as often happens with good art, the more you look, the more there is to see. A pair of tasselled “earrings” on one of the oversized pots. A beaded necklace on one of the smaller pieces. The indents of a bottle on a piece of clay cosplaying as cardboard. Some random numbers, or a cross, or a love heart, all in what looks like pencil, an ephemeral mark elevated to the status of art.
More on Scott Duncan
