KATY PLUMMER, KUBA DORABIALSKI, CONNIE ANTHES, GLENN BARKLEY, AMANDA BROMFIELD, HOLLY MACDONALD, RACHAEL MCCALLUM, ELOISE RANKINE, BEV SHROOT & ASHLEY SCOTT
’STUCK IN THE MUD’
CURATED BY MADELEINE PRESTON
1 SEPTEMBER – 24 SEPTEMBER, 2016
Stuck in the mud, 2016, Installation shot. Photography by Document Photography.
ID: Along a wall of the gallery, there are three works side by side. On the left, three ceramic pieces are placed atop two plinths. The red, black and white glazed pieces are stacked to form tall, structures. Images of Communist figures such as Karl Marx and Lenin are visible, along with writing in Russian and English that has been painted onto the pieces. Another work next to it shows a variety of different thrown ceramic pieces strewn on the floor. Some are broken and some are intact. There are glazed pieces and unfired pieces. On the right side of the wall, a flat-screen monitor is hung between two pairs of headphones on either side. The monitor shows a close-up shot of a man with a thick moustache looking into the camera against a black background. The lighting is dark and dramatic, obscuring parts of his face.
EXHIBITION STATEMENT
Curated by Madeleine Preston, Stuck In The Mud presented an archive for a revolution that had already occurred and loosely based on early 20th Century Russian agitprop or agitation propaganda. Mimicking different revolutionary art and craft objects Stuck in the Mud stretched definitions of craft and art.
Stuck in the Mud included ceramic works by Connie Anthes, Glenn Barkley, Amanda Bromfield, Holly Macdonald, Rachael McCallum, Eloise Rankine and Madeleine Preston who were current and past members of the Sydney ceramics studio collective kil-n-it. Also exhibiting were Katy B Plummer with textile works, Ashley Scott with sound works, and Kuba Dorabialski and Bev Shroot with video works. Stuck in the Mud commemorated a revolution of craft vs art, where art won, or did it?
Stuck in the mud, 2016, Installation shot. Photography by Document Photography.
ID: The gallery has multiple objects on its walls. On the left hand side of the image, multiple colourful banners on sticks are leaning against a wall. Red lines and dots of fabric are stictched onto them, with tassels hanging from the sticks. Colourful cushions with embroidered assault rifles are hung on the wall between the banners, lower to the ground. The middle wall shows two small circular pieces hung on the wall. The wall to the right contains an open book placed on a shelf with images and text. There is an abstract ceramic piece hanging on the wall beside it, and a plinth in the center of the space with a ceramic sculpture placed on top. The sculpture depicts an abstract figure with disproportionate features. In the right hand corner, there is a CRT monitor that shows a person from the back as they are sitting down .
Stuck in the mud, 2016, Installation shot. Photography by Document Photography.
ID: On the wall to the right, there are two small circular wall pieces side by side. Geometric attachments protrude from the flat bases on the wall. A plinth beside it displays a ceramic sculpture which shows the side profile of a woman's face. She wears a bandana on her head and her lips are glazed with red glaze. On the wall further in the back is an abstract ceramic peice hung on the wall and an open book on a shelf. In the back corner, there is a CRT monitor resting on a metal base.
Kuba Dorabialski, You Can’t The Fire, 2016, UHD video, duration 08:45, Installation shot. Edition of 5 (plus 1 artist’s proof). Photography by Document Photography.
ID: A flat-screen monitor is hung on the wall, between two pairs of headphones hung on either side. The monitor shows a close-up shot of a man with a thick moustache looking into the camera against a black background. The lighting is dark and dramatic, obscuring parts of his face.
Stuck in the mud, 2016, Installation shot. Photography by Document Photography.
ID: A corner wall in the gallery which contains an abstract ceramic piece hung on the left hand side of the wall, next to an open book placed on a shelf. The book contains images of ceramic works with some text of their descriptions. In the corner, there is a CRT monitor that shows a person from the back sitting at a desk. On a plinth further to the right, there is a sculpture resembling column bases stacked on top of each other.