24 June – 30 July 2017
An enticing exhibition from its evocative and amusingly irreverent title, to its bizarre and often comically hybrid forms and colourful images, this survey of ceramics, objects and works on paper uncovers Stephen Bird’s diverse art practice and its influence on his well-known ceramic works.Stephen Bird makes highly individualistic ceramics that toy with convention. The exhibition includes Commemorative plates and Toby-style jugs which meld an Australian sardonic humour with traditional English Industrial pottery forms.Throughout the exhibition, Bird’s mastery of glazing techniques and applied decoration on ceramics is matched by dazzlingly bright watercolours and intense graphic detail of works on paper.
Image: Stephen Bird, Self portrait as a Toby Jug, 2010, clay, pigment and glaze, 32 x 18 x 25cm.