Bill Culbert

 

Strait (Grey Red Yellow Blue White Green), 2015 https://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artist/bill-culbert


Bill Culbert uses ready-mades to create  3D installations. In this image Culbert appears to have threaded a group of coloured plastic bottles onto a fluorescent tube, illuminating them from the inside. I think this alludes to popular culture and nightlife with the bright colours reminding me of neon lights in the city and clubs. The bottles themselves are not usually an attractive object - they're utilitarian and industrial, they are not designed to look good, so I think Culbert has created a successful transformation of the bottles into something with a contemporary aesthetic quality that draws you in, and this is what my ceramic pieces are intended to do as well. I also thought about playing with light; my first set of cartons were porcelain so placing a light inside created a warm glow that particularly soaked through the seams of the cartons - however the partially dipped glazes blocked this light creating a half-dark half-light effect that didn't really work for me because you couldn't see the full carton form. I also think putting lights in them would maybe return them to the domestic realm, like funky lamps from IKEA. 



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