Artist Statement
The objects I make explore the materiality of clay as both the alchemical form and surface. As a potter, the entropic volatility in kiln atmospheres, that hand-built ceramic forms are exposed to, during their firing process, provide metaphorical allusions to both the unpredictability of current climate crises and continuing erasure of marginalised ecologies. Tactile proximity through the malleability of clay and emotive, gestural abstraction on the fired, ceramic surface provides a three-dimensional canvas. The immediacy of aleatoric expression reinforces the inextricable entanglements of the post-human world.
The death of innumerable animals during mega bushfires and vast tracts of totally charred old forests triggered many childhood memories of ecological grief and drought. Through the adoption of text and textured, visceral surface treatment using intense colour on fragile ceramic forms, my work references the precarious fragility of human-animal habitats, death, and abjection. Such methods emphasize the displacement that occurs due to the breakdown of complex ecosystems.
Tamil Poet Subramania Bharati (1881-1921) dreamt of a “Kruta Yuga,” or “new era” where the equality of the animate and the inanimate is recognized whilst Danish physicist Niehl Bohr said, “We are a part of the nature, that we seek to understand”. Such philosophies support my introspections on the entwined nature of socio-ecological issues, and extant binaries in human languages.
Bio
Gomathi Suresh is an Indian-Australian multi-disciplinary artist with ceramics as the principal medium of her practice. She has completed a Masters of Arts in Fine Art at RMIT in Melbourne (MFA Grad Profile). Her MFA Graduating Solo Exhibition comprised an assemblage installation titled The Second Language, at RMIT in Melbourne, 2022; Group exhibitions include Juxtaposed, India, 2020; Form 20, Sydney, 2020; Insidious, Sydney, 2020; Elemental, Sydney, 2020; Waning, India, 2019; A Resolute Witness, India, 2019; Earthworks, Sydney, 2019. Curated projects include Waning, India, 2019; A Resolute Witness, India, 2019; Bowl’d Over, India, 2018 & 2019; Be My Friend, India, 2019; Revisited, India, 2017. She has participated in art residencies in India and Australia. Residencies include Wood Firing in an Anagama kiln, in Sydney, 2020; Soda Firing, in Auroville, India, 2019. Suresh’s ceramic vessel forms are in private collections in Australia and India.
Portrait Photo by Rishabh Nagaraj
Selected CV
Work
Full-time studio practice, Committee Member at Climarte Gallery Richmond, Melbourne
Education
2022 Master of Arts in Fine Art, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
2020 Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts, Tafe Hornsby, Sydney.
2017 2-year Diploma in Ceramic Art, Tafe Hornsby, Sydney.
1982 Bachelor of Arts (Economics), University of Madras, India.
1984 Master of Business Management, University of Madras, India.
Exhibitions
2023 Interstices - Group Exhibition of ceramic objects, Incinerator Art Space, Sydney
2022 The Sculptor’s Society- Members’ group exhibition, Studio W, Sydney
2022 The Second Language MFA Graduating Solo Exhibition, Assemblage Installation-Ceramic Objects, Live Video and Soundscape, Gossard Space, School of Art, RMIT Melbourne.
2021 Ruptured World Experimental Project, Ceramic objects MFA First Year, Online RMIT Melbourne
2021 Untitled Experimental Projects, Ceramics, Paper, Cloth, MFA First Year, Gossard Space, RMIT Melbourne
2020 Form 20, Members’ Group Exhibition, Sculptors Society NSW, Chatswood Chase, Sydney
2020 Insidious Graduating Exhibition, Advanced Diploma Visual Arts, Tafe, Hornsby, Sydney
2020 Juxtaposed A group exhibition of Ceramics and Paintings, curated by Giridhar Khasnis, Bangalore, India.
2020 Elemental End of Year Group Exhibition Advanced Diploma
2019 Waning A group exhibition of Ceramics and Photography,
2019 A Resolute Witness A group exhibition of contemporary porcelain
2019 Earthworks Graduating Exhibition, Tafe Gallery, Hornsby, Sydney
2018 The Lost Fig EOY Exhibition, Tafe Gallery, Hornsby, Sydney
2015 Bold and the Beautiful, Group Exhibition of studio ceramics, Ewart Gallery, Sydney
Curatorial Projects
2019 A Resolute Witness A group exhibition of contemporary porcelain, India
2019 Waning An exhibition of Ceramics and Photography, India,
2019 Bowl’d Over 2nd Edition. A group exhibition of contemporary studio pottery, Gallery Manora, India
2018 Bowl’d Over 1st Edition. A group exhibition of contemporary studio pottery; Gallery Manora, India
2017 Revisited A joint solo exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by Feyona van Stom and Seemanthini Desai, Gallery Manora, Bangalore, India
Professional Development
2020 Wood firing in an Anagama Kiln (North Richmond, NSW) under the tutelage of Master Potter/Ceramic Artist Barbara Campbell-Allen(OAM, 2019)
2019 Advanced Wheel-Throwing Workshop with ceramic artist Amrita Dhawan, Bangalore, India
2019 Arts Residency (Soda Firing) with ceramic artist Adil Writer, Auroville, India
2017 Porcelain Techniques by Keiko Matsui, Tafe Hornsby, Sydney
2017 & 2019 Glaze and Fire by Trisha Dean, Tafe Hornsby, Sydney
Awards
NAVA Ignition Awards-Highest Grades in Professional Creative Practice, MFA, RMIT, 2022.
RMIT MFA Graduating Student Lowensteins Arts Management Award, 2022.
Memberships
The Australian Ceramics Association (TACA)
NAVA National Association of the Visual Arts
Artshub Australia
Sculptor Society NSW, Sydney
