This latest body of work continues Kitson’s exploration of the world around her, most recently she has turned her gaze towards her immediate surroundings. A wanderer and gatherer, Kitson, had until the pandemic divided her time between the South Coast of Australia and Jingdezhen, the ‘porcelain capital’ of China. ‘The delight of future eyes’ sees Kitson look closer to home, examining and processing the immense devastation of the 2019 bushfires and the extraordinary capacity for regeneration.
Featuring free-standing porcelain vessels and expansive constellations of wall sculptures, Kitson’s latest body of work comprises thousands of components, meticulously and painstakingly crafted by hand. Consistently pushing the boundaries, limits and excesses of her chosen material, these otherworldly objects and hybrid like forms blur the line between the natural and unnatural world, the real and the unreal.
“Kitson ejects nature’s perfect symmetry for lopsided wonkiness, conjuring up an abundance of buds, lips and fronds to impossible profusion. Pelts so thick they can only belong to mythical beasts, petals multiplied in lush multitude, a jungle on steroids. I’ve seen her smack and flatten worms of clay into fur, transform fatter coils into snakeskin, in a trance of repetition, the same gesture executed over and over, in a liminal zone somewhere between obsession and meditation. Quick hands, flying fingers pleating, folding, twisting, stretching and bending.
The law of opposites applies in ‘The delight of future eyes’, attraction and repulsion. The pretty and the grotesque co-exist, as they do in fairy tales and in reality. The pure white and shelly pink of innocence, the matte black of the underworld. The result both benign and sinister.” – Caroline Baum, 2022
Juz Kitson has received several major accolades for her work, including most recently being named a finalist in the Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award, The Wynne Prize and the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize. Her work was recently featured in ‘Destination Sydney: the natural world’ at S.H Ervin Gallery Sydney and has been curated in the 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Primavera 2013. Kitson is represented in significant public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Art Gallery of South Australia, Gold Coast City Gallery/HOTA, Artbank and RMIT University.
Image: Juz Kitson, ‘All will reveal itself when you dive in and dive in deep no. 1’, 2022, Scarva clay, raku, stoneware and oxides, 75.0 x 53.0 x 49.0 cm
