Rupert Osborn
Killara High School
LOST IN UTILITY
Ceramics
Ceramic slip, coloured stain
The utilitarian nature of many everyday objects often masks the beauty in their form. In my body of work I question the unconscious differentiation that we make between art and household tools, highlighting the aesthetic details of these forms by removing them from their intended purpose. Liquid porcelain served as the perfect medium as it removed the transparency of glass, allowing the viewer to see past the objects' lines both physically and metaphorically. Porcelain also enabled me to add an unglazed surface to the works, thus removing their ability to function conventionally.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Milly Dent, Hayden Youlley, Kerryn Levy, Penelope Duke.
Marker's Commentary
This refined series of slip cast porcelain forms elevates and transforms humble utilitarian objects to fine art objects that reference Giorgio Morandi’s bottles or porcelain works in museum collections. There is a diverse range of recognisable everyday objects that are further transformed through the use of soft colour stains in some of the castings. These references and the interplay between the ordinary objects and fine art are enhanced further through the ordered placement of the final installation and in the colour enhanced photographic studies of different compositions. The beautifully finished castings expertly capture surface details of the objects and the matt surfaces of the porcelain remove the object’s original properties casting it in a new role as museum object.
