Artists' Artists: Janet Fieldhouse

AH XIAN
born China, 1960, lives and works in Australia
China China bust 15 1999, China China bust 80 2004, China China bust 16 1999

This body of work is very interesting to me, because of the artist’s technique of slip casting and then hand painting with underglaze; it’s mind-blowing how detailed they are. It gives you a sense of traditional Chinese imagery merging with modern Western techniques and ideas. When I first started doing ceramics and looking at different mediums, these works really caught my eye. The blue one is my favourite because I love blue; it makes me think of the ocean. It also recalls the wattle patterns on dinner plates but to see them painted on the cast of a figure gives me the chills; I love it. The fact that the three figures have their eyes closed would have been practical, as they were having moulds made of their faces, but it creates an amazing atmosphere: like they’re dreaming of a place, where they’ll be or how they’ll be. The different patterns, like the dragon on one of them, could be a reference to a dreamtime. It’s like the inner worlds of the people are on the outside of their body.

HOSSEIN VALAMANESH
born Iran, 1949–2022, emigrated to Australia 1973
Falling 1990

This work reminds me of a giant hair comb. The interesting thing is how the artist has used various materials: wood, bamboo, sand, steel and black granite. I use a lot of different materials in my work too, so I find this combination really compelling. I love the idea of the sculpture balancing even though it doesn’t look like it should be able to. When you get close to it, it somehow makes you a bit dizzy or uncomfortable, because it seems so unstable; it makes your eyes play around.

It’s very mysterious. It could be a person or a spirit or a thing, falling or crashing down to the earth, but it also casts an interesting shadow. You don’t know what it is until you read the wall label, which says it was inspired by Salman Rushdie’s description of a mid-air explosion of a passenger liner on its way from India to England. That is actually scary. But I think it’s alright, too. This sculpture isn’t just an illustration; it’s something else.

THANAKUPI (THANCOUPIE GLORIA FLETCHER AO)
Australia, Dhaynagwidh/Thaynakwith people, 1937–2011
Eran 2010

Thanakupi was one of my lecturers in Cairns when I was a student. She had a big impact on me. It’s just one of those things in life that you meet somebody and then you keep on meeting them until they pass and you think about how their story has come along.

I like the full circle shape of Eran. You learn from it, like you learned from Thanakupi when she was alive. Most of her forms are circles; she would hit the clay on her knee to get the shape and then she’d put her story onto it. I don’t know what the exact story behind this one is, but with its yams and kangaroo, I’m sure it’s about her homeland in Weipa on the top of Queensland. I love the fact that it was made in clay and then cast. Seeing her as an artist in pottery and watching her work go from small to big, it’s like, wow! I wonder if I can do that?

JONATHAN JONES AND COLLABORATORS DR UNCLE STAN GRANT SNR AM AND BEATRICE MURRAY
Australia, Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi peoples, born 1978
untitled (walam-wunga.galang) 2020–21

The process of milling flour, making bread and feeding our families is a practice that has taken place over thousands of years across this continent. You can see with this work how the actual grinding took place from the way these large stones are placed; it’s a really tactile sculptural installation. The stones also look like heads or beds; you could lie on them.

The sound component is really atmospheric; you just want to get in there and grind the flour with them. The singing is powerful, too; you can imagine them singing as they work. The stones are just such beautiful objects and some of them look like they’ve been used; they have traces of water on them, which adds to the atmosphere. It’s funny that the signs in the gallery say ‘don’t touch the work’ because it’s exactly what you want to do.

This story was first published in The Annual 2023.