An assemblage of exuberant artefacts, Angela Brennan’s
Rustic Deities converses with the classical history of ceramics and painting, through the artist’s characteristically jocular optic. Sensual and robust, Brennan’s clay renditions navigate the line between the domestic and divine, continuing her playful enquiry into conceptual paradox and form.
Brennan is known for her luscious treatment of paint, seen most recently at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in
Infinity Plus One (2011). Since then, Brennan has translated her interest in paint’s infinite permutation of form to the ancient tradition of ceramics. Responding to the fluidity of the medium, Brennan’s ceramic pieces bear the mark of their organic evolution. At once familiar and unique, the asymmetry of the work conjures the aesthetics of our natural world – an imperfect kind of beauty. Yet a paradox is inherent to these forms: their evocation of domestic objects such as urns, candlesticks and jugs is destabilized by their dysfunctional status as art objects.
Rustic Deities departs from Brennan’s previous work, as it engages with the history of art through its connection to ancient ritual and celestial order. Inspired by the distinctive qualities of Cypriot ceramics spliced with the saccharine palette of Pop Art, her works are cheekily titled:
Gaia the Greek Goddess of the Earth,
Artemis the Goddess of the Hunt and
Pan the God of the Wild. However belying Brennan’s mischievous engagement with classical mythology, is an earnest inquiry into the genesis of artistic forms.
Glenn Barkley recently described Brennan’s work as “possess(ing) an innocence that can come only from fresh eyes and the discovery of a new material.” Through Brennan’s artistic curiosity, she continually reinvigorates her creative practice and the artistic traditions she explores.
Denise Thwaites, 2015
Press release courtesy Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.