The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 No 2 July 2014

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Ben Quilty, Scream after Leonardo, 2014, porcelain, slipeasl, h.18cm, w.20cm, d.17cm; photo: Andre de Borde 60 THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS JULY 2014
Focus: Emerging original object. With a painting, quite often what happens is it takes so many different directions, and often the ones that work the best - the image that you have in your head in the beginning - is how it finishes. The ones that go off in different directions usually don't work, but are still really important to making a good painting, whereas with the ceramics, I knew exactly what I was making. I knew what I wanted, and what the final product would be like. Cl: What are the works about? BQ: They were inspired by Leonardo da Vinci drawings of these grotesque, over-the-top historical figures. The subjects of these drawings almost seem more than human, characterisations of humanity, of human traits. I wanted to play with that, with the fact that they were based on drawings of very absurd looking real people, and therefore, I don't know, explore our humanity, explore the crazy boundaries of what humans are, what appearances can convey. That is how the portrait of Phi l Butler fits into the body of work. He is a da Vinci subject. He 's such an extraordinary figure; he's got a huge block of a head and he has a lifestyle and life story like none I've ever heard before. He served in Vietnam, conscripted as a 20-year-old kid. He was basically threatened that if he didn't go to war he would spend the rest of the war period in Long Bay prison. He lost so many of his mates in the war. I was born the year after the Vietnam War finished so I'm interested in that history, in his story. As well as that, he's this really extraordinarily out-there-Iooking human being; he's a big, solid, very friendly, softly spoken human being. Cl: Did you know that you were going to use him as a subject when you started? BQ: Yes, that's actually where it started. I made the painting, the portrait of Phil, and the first jug came directly from that, and really the painting just acted as a vehicle to explore the ideas that I then wanted to turn into clay. And then, it went from there, and I started finding more and more images, and when I'm looking for things like that, they just seem to come up before me. My seven-year-old son opened a da Vinci book and said, " Dad, turn that - this incredible drawing - into porcelain ." I said, "Joe, you're a genius!" So the collaboration's just getting broader and broader! The da Vinci drawings crystallised the ideas we've already discussed, that began with Phil Butler. Cl: Will the painting be exhibited alongside his porcelain jug7 BQ: It will eventually, but not in Hong Kong. Cl: Has working with clay taught you anything? BQ: Look, it's about form, real form; you're dealing with a 3D object. Part of my practice as a painter is being influenced by visual things, but then making up a lot of the material so that it becomes, in a way, a collaboration between imagination and truth. And with ceramics, with what I've done with these works, it's a 2D image and I'm giving it 3D form, so I've had to make up more than half of the object, so it's now an even greater collaboration, between imagination, truth, sculpture, form. And then there's the magic of actually using your hands to create an object, that immediacy and physicality, leaving your fingerprints! Cl: Do you think there is a connection between what these works look like and your paintings? BQ: I don't know, you'll have to tell me that l Look, they're a beautiful, shiny, smooth, blended form of what my paintings are. And if you look at that one of Phil Butler, it's directly from the original idea explored in the painting, and I just gave that form. I gave the idea form, so in a way the painting is just a work in progress, and the final ceramic object is the artwork. THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS JULY 2014 61
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WALKER ~ Feeneys Clay Cesco Glazes
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Contents 52 Profile: Leah Fraser 53
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Contributors Stephen Bird is a Sydn
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Above: Bob Connery, bowl and box; S
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Tri bute: Bob Connery Ceramics by B
Page 15 and 16: MAJOR REPORT ON CRAFT A new report,
Page 17 and 18: Focus: Emerging Opposite page: Alan
Page 19 and 20: Focus: Emerging The Secret to Alana
Page 21 and 22: Alana Wilson, (of/age on Andre; Dav
Page 23 and 24: Focus : Emerging ----- Opposite pag
Page 25 and 26: Alana Wilson, Col/age on Andrei Dav
Page 27 and 28: Charlotte le Brocque, Shaun, The Ov
Page 29 and 30: Charlotte Le Brocque, Say Wha t? 20
Page 31 and 32: ~--- Focus: Emerging Daniel returne
Page 34 and 35: Dog in the Trees The three of us, s
Page 36 and 37: Fo cus: Emerging Some advice from t
Page 38 and 39: Focus: Emerging OWEN RYE I have a p
Page 40 and 41: This is about you> The future. The
Page 42 and 43: Ruth Ju-Shih Li Crystall ine glaze
Page 44 and 45: HUGO MUECKE The exhibition was like
Page 46 and 47: Left: Pippin Drysdale, Lone Rock -
Page 48: Focus: Em erging Above and opposite
Page 51 and 52: Focus: Em erging readers become ver
Page 53 and 54: Focus: Emerging Bokeh Gallery is lo
Page 55 and 56: Focus: Eme rging 21 Reasons to Repe
Page 57 and 58: Focus: Eme rging PROFILE: Home@735
Page 59 and 60: Focus: Emerging PROFILE: Thomas Qua
Page 61: Focus: Emerging From Paint to Clay
Page 65 and 66: Ben Quilty, from left to right, Scr
Page 67 and 68: National Education Pictorial Survey
Page 69 and 70: National Education: Pictorial Surve
Page 71 and 72: National Education: Pictorial Surve
Page 73 and 74: SUNSHINE COAST INSTITUTE, QLD http:
Page 75 and 76: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA SCHOO
Page 77 and 78: Promotion Three Experiences of our
Page 79 and 80: Promotion In 1985 Gail Nichols Won
Page 81 and 82: Vi ew 1 HERE&NOW14: The state of ce
Page 83 and 84: View 2 Round the Mountain Merrie Ha
Page 85 and 86: Spaces and Places ------- Late Nigh
Page 87 and 88: ,./ , - "'- , - • • " \ ;' ,
Page 89 and 90: Of Layer Cakes and Hokey-Pokey It
Page 92 and 93: St udio An Overflow of Creativity C
Page 94 and 95: Potters Marks 6 1 Christine Sail 2
Page 96 and 97: Ceramic Shots 2 Photographer: Kimie
Page 98 and 99: Artist in Residence Time Out julie
Page 100 and 101: Gatherings On the Edge of the Shelf
Page 102 and 103: Canberra has a secret ... No. not t
Page 104 and 105: Australian Ceram ics Triennale 2015
Page 106 and 107: The Source of Light Two post-gradua
Page 108 and 109: Exhibition Roundup lyndall Bensley
Page 110 and 111: Virginia Perkins: emerging artist V
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The porcelain biomorphic forms of C
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Stockists ACT canberra potters soci
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Become a member The AUSTRALIAN CERA
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Classifieds CERAMIC SUPPLIES BLACKW
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[EflAmlH AUSTflALIA QUALITY WHEELS,
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Still Firing at 45 Celebrating 45 y
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quality pottery supplies and servic
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FULL TIME STUDIO·BASED CERAMICS CO
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Trudie Alfred (1922 - 2010)* was a
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Clay Extruder -all stainless steel
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The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 No 2 July 2014

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