Dangerous Swirls: Ebony Russell
Ebony Russell creates extravagant ceramic repositories for troubling and unresolved feelings.
Image credit: Ebony Russell, Waste Not Pot: Neon Magnolia Pot, 2019, hand-piped and cast Jingdezhen Porcelain, underglaze, glaze, 37 x 22 x 26 cm. Courtesy the artist and Artereal Gallery, Sydney
Ebony Russell can talk at length about the nostalgic, autobiographical and familial influences discernible throughout her work – the treasured objects, the special occasions, her grandmother’s treasured collection of cake decorating books. That said, she’s more interested in locating her memories within a wider exploration of the disenchantment that comes with experience. More precisely, how do you reconcile the love of fantasy with lived reality? Happily ever ... not
so much.
Russell’s particular version of twisted kitsch may evoke some knowing eye rolls from viewers who can recall, or may have owned, some of her more cloying reference material. Derived from a typical 1970-80s Australian childhood and adolescence, toys like My Little Pony, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Keypers and the ubiquitous Barbie co-mingle with Avon perfume and cosmetic bottles and Carousel ice cream cakes like a retro miasma. As is typical of Russell’s approach, her latent affection for the artefacts and fashions of this era is tempered by the critical appraisal that maturity confers. Her works suggest a level of catharsis: the waning of romanticism after the reality has set
in, the aspartame aftertaste amid the genuine sweetness.
Social mores, gender stereotypes, pressure to conform and unrealistic expectations provide the psychological edge underpinning Russell’s practice. Using a recognisable domestic and culinary trope that is unabashedly decorative and frivolous, she acknowledges the way in which women, particularly, are often conditioned and manipulated throughout their formative years to ...Subscribe to read this article in full
