Eleanor Wickens
@artist_the_flamingo
Eleanor Wickens is an Australian ceramic artist based in the Blue Mountains, NSW. Her practice derives from her love of history and literature and how written and aural narratives shape our understanding of the world and ourselves as individuals.
Ceramics have always - in the practical sense - had a relationship with culinary cuisine and the art of preparing and consuming food. Since 1789, there has been a social commentary on the Western world’s obsession with abundance, over-consumption and excessive access to food, often juxtaposed to the unequal access of food within non-Western society. The French Revolution was enacted by peasants who had no access to basic food supplies while the aristocracy lived in luxury and excess. This work pays homage to this era by creating a fictitious last supper, consisting of an assortment of tiered cakes that have been hacked into by the guest. Using traditional methods of throwing, slab-building and mould-casting (hump moulds), to play on the themes surrounding the timeless issue of over-consumption and food waste that continue to impact the Western World. This work creates a contrast between affect and formal interpretations of beauty and the sublime, by displaying the results of consumption when there is simply too much choice.
View the work: Building 24 Ground Floor, Rayner Hoff Project Space
