Shelf Life Series, hand-built Southern Ice porcelain and glazes, 2008. Sydney Australia.
Shelf Life playfully responds to the question raised by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger: What is a thing? The research behind this work aimed to identify the differences between a thing and an object. My conclusions were that the identity of the thing, or the thingness of an object, is beyond its function and appearance, and that language proffers insufficient descriptors for our experience of objects, particularly those of art. An alternate understanding of objects beyond mere perception can, however, emerge in the interactive and imaginative zone between the object and subject.
I believe the thingness of an object is transient, it relies upon, and exists in suspension between, the passive still object, and the active thinking subject: in the space of play and reverie. The resulting series does not specify what objects and things are in themselves - it does not merely represent. To the contrary, they respond toand recall the ambiguous, strange and illusive character of objects seen, created and imagined, and encourage intellectual and physical engagement.
I believe the thingness of an object is transient, it relies upon, and exists in suspension between, the passive still object, and the active thinking subject: in the space of play and reverie. The resulting series does not specify what objects and things are in themselves - it does not merely represent. To the contrary, they respond toand recall the ambiguous, strange and illusive character of objects seen, created and imagined, and encourage intellectual and physical engagement.