This collection of sculptures titled Uncertain Objects by Tania Rollond was made for the group exhibition The Course of Objects: The Fine Lines of Inquiry, curated by Susan Ostling. The exhibition, put on by the Australian Ceramics Association, was on display at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney, from May 2nd to June 8th, 2014. Rollond has participated in two exhibitions since this one, at the Shepparton Art Museum, Victoria, and in select Búl boutiques collaborating with fashion designer Virginia Martin.
Above Image: Tania Rollond, object 4, 2014, stoneware with vitrifying slip, 14 x 12 x 6 cm
Rollond’s forms are like ancient tools with a purpose lost in time. They were found by a future civilization and naively redecorated into “modern” objects of beauty. Rollond’s forms and drawings don’t quite match up in their touch or visual complexity, but they connect in their curiosity.
In her statement, Rollond talks about the role of “time” in her work:
“Drawings are markings in, and of, time. The small time of my day (the moment of observation captured, or the hours spent making many small pencil marks), fitting within the larger timescale of my lifetime… Which is only the slightest flicker compared to the possible lifespan of a ceramic object. A scratched line or a brushstroke on clay are marks that both fix an instant, and outlive the centuries – the pot is a messenger across time.”
Tania Rollond, object 1, 2014, porcelain with ceramic stains, 12 x 13 x 7 cm
Rollond takes the cutesy drawing style that has been so trendy in recent years and places it perfectly on contemporary ceramic art. It is one of the few examples I have seen of this style, found in numbers on the maker marketplace Etsy, successfully executed in an art context. Rollond accomplishes this through incredible attention to detail using a soft vitreous slip decorated with underglaze pencil, creating these in a way that allow her sculptures to jump from being a part of the trend to being about it.
Justin Crowe is a Writer and Director of Operations at CFile.
Any thoughts about these Uncertain Objects? Share yours in the comment box below.
Tania Rollond, object 9, 2014, ceramic pencil on porcelain, 7 x 15 x 7 cm. Click to see a larger image.
Tania Rollond, object 2, 2014, porcelain with ceramic pencil, 19 x 10 x 10 cm. Click to see a larger image.
Tania Rollond, Uncertain Objects, 2014, porcelain with ceramic pencil and stains, stoneware with vitrifying slip. Click to see a larger image.
Tania Rollond, object 3, 2014, porcelain with ceramic pencil and stains, 11 x 18 x 7 cm. Click to see a larger image.
Tania Rollond, object 5, 2014, ceramic stains on porcelain, 10 x 18 x 9 cm
Tania Rollond, object 6, 2014, porcelain with ceramic stains, 11 x 11 x 11 cm
Tania Rollond, object 7, 2014, porcelain with ceramic pencil and stains, 17 x 5 x 3 cm
Tania Rollond, object 10, 2014, stoneware with vitrifying slip, 10 x 10 x 10 c
Tania Rollond, object 11, 2014, ceramic pencil on porcelain, 10 x 14 x 14 cm
Tania Rollond, object 12, 2014, ceramic pencil on porcelain, 10 x 10 x 10 cm
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