New Work with Justin Cooper @ NANA Contemporary
In late 2013, Sydney-based artists Justin Cooper and Connie Anthes undertook a collaborative residency with the Ceramics department of Gymea TAFE. The residency period was used to address the possibility of combining traditional ceramic methods with non-traditional process-based practice. Both artists have independent process-based practice, with Cooper having a strong background in experimental ceramics and Anthes interested in challenging the expectations of traditional mediums and materials.
To deny obvious object-based outcomes, Cooper and Anthes used found materials and inserted them into the ceramic process. Raw materials have been scavenged from mountainsides, building sites and recycle bins and then combined using Cooper’s knowledge of ceramic chemistry to create “melt experiments”. The resulting vortexes of colour and low relief texture were then photographed at close range and digitally collaged to produce the final ‘ceramic works’, which take the form of large format digital prints adhered to the windows of a now defunct department store in Newcastle’s CBD.
