Another Silk Road

Referencing the trade routes between Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe this exhibition of 9 artists shows works embodying highly varied cultural exchange. All the artists have a connection to China and all their work is based on ceramic production, but contrast through personal experience, two-way exchange and reflection of relationships and the impact of technologies.

In fact this exhibition is not just about ceramics. There are large scale photographic backdrops, a video projection, a looped slideshow and a documentary which help flesh out some of the artists ideas about ceramics, tradition, production and cultural reflections.

It was a pretty straight forward exhibition where the contemporary art space allowed the objects to ‘speak’ in their own terms within the minimalist ‘white cube’. Although there wasn’t much interpretation as far as the labels went, (just the regular data-style art gallery label) I didn’t mind this because a room brochure was at hand for detailed, more narrative information.

There were two standout highlights to the show, Julie Bartholomew’s installation of objects comprising Vuitton Dynasty, 2008 and Qing Prada, 2008 and Douglas Cham’s Banana-kids series, 2008-9. Bartholomew makes a bold statement about global brands competing with traditional cultural forms. Her beautiful replica ‘objects des arts’ delicately express ideas about cultural integration and changing globalized ideals usurping themselves within the modern China.

Douglas Cham’s polished earthenware on the other hand, packs more of a political punch and reflects on his personal experience of displacement as a Chinese male in Australia. The title Banana-kids, is drawn from the term used by immigrant Chinese about first generation children, inferring “yellow on the outside, but white on the inside”. The assemblages of half peeled bananas revealing colloquial motifs such as a crocodile holding a tinny (beer can), are meticulously produced with bright glossy glazed skin and the soft white creamy texture of the unglazed creatures within. They are beautifully rendered pieces which make you want to move right up close to view them. Upon doing so, you are confronted with a subtle sourness in the detail, such as the red inked banana brand stamp on the each skin showing the date 1901-1973, the lengthy period of the White Australia Policy. Among the 8 or so banana skins, Cham also displays an audio visual in which immigrants are interviewed and set the task of hailing a taxi in Sydney city. It is an experiment that, not so subtly, explores racism in Australia. Through his ceramics, Cham isn’t just reflecting his personal immigrant experience and the tension between traditional and Western culture, he also looks at his standing in a broader, collective, Australian position on cultural relations, to expose some interesting tensions.


Ivan Dougherty Gallery
2 – 25 July 2009
Free entry
Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
Closed Sundays and public holidays

College of Fine Arts
Selwyn Street
Paddington NSW 2021
http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/galleries/idg/