CreatorKelly AustinTitleStilled Composition No.25Date2017MediumCeramic, glaze, wood, acrylic paintDimensions35cm x 100cm x 30cmArtist StatementI am curious about the way we interpret things and how an understanding of one object may influence the perception of another. My work therefore explores illusion, the relationships of ceramic objects in still life compositions and asks how carefully do we look?
How is what we perceive connected to the depth with which we see? Some of my forms are grounded in utility and familiarity while others are more ambiguous and abstract.Accession NumberG2020.19.1Credit LineDonated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts ProgramAccess AdviceFor research purposes only. No reproduction without permission of Yarrila Arts and Museum.
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Significance Statement
The work Stilled Composition No.25 was a finalist in the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery's signature program, Still: National Still Life Award. In 2017, this award was expanded from having a focus solely on still life painting to include artworks in all mediums. As a high quality, abstracted still life arrangement executed in ceramics, this work signals a striking contemporary interpretation of the still life genre and new direction for the gallery's collection. The still life genre is the specialist focus of the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery’s collection, with still life artworks identified as the first priority in the gallery’s collection policy, Section 2.4.2 (1): “Works in this section reflect the still life genre, as per artworks acquired through the National Still Life Award (Still) as well as through donation, purchase, transfer and bequest.”
Kelly Austin is an emerging artist, based in Tasmania, who has been achieving considerable success in national art awards and is establishing an impressive exhibiting record. She takes an instinctive and conceptual approach to ceramics, working with a reduced palette to explore the aesthetic of polished ceramic, relying solely on glaze for colour and texture. Working with sharply-defined geometric forms, her ongoing series of minimalist still life assemblages emphasise quietness, delicacy and restraint. These works explore resemblances between objects, which is a fundamental and consistent line of enquiry throughout the history of the still life genre. These series pose a thoughtful contrast to much of the ‘noisiness’ of contemporary art practice and politics, inviting contemplation of how we actually look and how we make meaning out of form, surface, colour and object relationships.
