Chapter House Lane is pleased to present Chameleon, an exhibition that brings together ceramic artworks by Stephen Bird, Tina Lee, Jenny Orchard and David Ray.

The artists included in Chameleon engage and reimagine traditional sculptural techniques for a contemporary context. Often subversive and self-referential, these works exist at the intersection of form and function; of the domestic and fine art.

Stephen Bird combines his observations of the human condition with critical depictions of Australian and British culture, colonialism and fine art conventions, using self-deprecating humour to challenge the position of the artist in his ceramic wall plates.

Tina Lee’s works are self-referential and psychologically charged. She externalises her personal inner-dialogue in the recent series Self-Talk (2017).

Jenny Orchard brings together botanical and human references in her hyper-real and dreamlike figures. Her extensive ceramic, drawing and painting-based practice explores mythological and decorative traditions.

David Ray critiques high versus low culture in his ornamental ceramic works which bind together diverse Australian cultural references, from consumerism to football. He uses the medium to draw attention to major events within the Australian media and to raise questions about the notion of craft as a tradition.

Collectively, the highly considered and narrative works in Chameleon comment on the lived and fantastic elements of daily experience; drawing upon the artists’ wry observations and the medium of clay to contribute to a conversation about the role of ceramics in contemporary art practice. 

This exhibition is co-curated by Louise Klerks and Stacy Jewell.