In the Cactus Garden
Mindy Solomon is pleased to present In the Cactus Garden, the third solo exhibition of Australian artist Glenn Barkley. Barkley is a self-taught ceramicist whose innovative works are instantly recognizable for their distinctly personal style.
Barkley describes his practice: “I make art and objects inspired by the natural world and its intersection with the history of ceramics. The major work in this show, Of Cicadas and Bones, was originally shown in the Wollongong Botanic Garden south of Sydney. The work utilizes slip-cast and sprig-mold forms — many made from cheaply acquired Wedgwood — found molds of Australian flora and fauna, and blocks of glazed shapes cut directly from rolled clay. I only fire to earthenware, as I like the gaudy brilliance of the colors that can border on bad taste. I also have an abiding interest in gardens, specifically the sculptural forms of cacti and succulents. I want my work to have a similar sculptural intensity as well as suggest the fecundity of the natural world.
“The title of this work comes from ‘Wind’ by Australian poet Ron Pretty — a meditation on memory and loss. The exhibition also includes a small group of new male figurative works, all of which stand on pedestals marked with witches’ marks. Witches’ marks were used by Australian convicts who colonized the continent in the late 1700s. Referencing Roman and medieval sculptural lineages, the figures deliberately resist ideals of grandeur, permanence, and perfection. Instead, they emphasize vulnerability and the visible traces of their making. They have been beaten down by age — cankles, shrunken dicks, pockmarked bodies, saggy butts, and lumpen dad — or grandad — bods.”
With his signature style of brightly colored clay medallions atop white earthenware, as well as terracotta and gold works, Barkley brings a sardonically humorous sentimentality to the exhibition. Once described as “the worst potter in Australia,” he grows ever more irreverent and gloriously tacky each year. We are proud to have his sarcasm animate the creative halls of our gallery.
About Glenn Barkley
Glenn Barkley is an artist, writer, curator and gardener based in Sydney and Berry NSW, Australia. His work operates in the space between these interests drawing upon ceramics deep history, to popular song, the garden and conversations about art and the internet. He was previously senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (2008–14) and curator of the University of Wollongong Art Collection (1996–2007).
He is a co-founder of Kilnit Experimental Ceramics Studio Glebe and a co-director of The Curators Department, an independent curatorial agency based in Sydney. He has work in the Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia and Artbank Sydney.
