Philip Li

“They await for their presence to be acknowledged; for their physical existence to transgress and transform. Boundaries between objects and images become fluid, and the object lives to serve its image.”

My graduate exhibition is an art installation featuring a series of ceramic images and a backstage studio workspace. Front-of-house, unexpected images take precedent on the white gallery walls and only through active discovery does one witness the ceramic sculptures in transit, waiting to be seen.

Taking ceramics as a concept, my performances, photographs and sculptures play with the placement and definition of the ceramic artefact, suggesting new and alternative ways of seeing the object. The pieces are meticulously crafted body sculptures, whose true meaning is only revealed when captured within the fleeting moment of the photograph. The objects are given new life by displacing them from their traditional realm as an autonomous tactile object, and presenting them within a world of fantasy and images.

Iconic signs and symbols used in the worlds of fashion and haute couture to construct personal identity, are translated into these ceramic images and body sculptures. These sculptures masquerade as apparel, and are central to my contrived performances of archetypal masculine ideals. Whether it be adorning myself with Grecian draping, weighty armour, or The Power Suit – these are all alternative constructs to my male persona. Through the ceramic image, all perceptions are blurred – manipulating both the identity and presence of my sculptures and myself.