Sullivan+Strumpf Singapore presents Kirsten Coelho's solo exhibition: Passages

The first showing of Coelho's work in Singapore and her debut presentation with Sullivan+Strumpf, Passages explores ongoing themes of social history and material culture.

The series examines the physical and metaphorical changes that occur when one leaves their home and the notion of the heroes' welcome when one returns. This is translated through a body of work investigating the objects we take with us on our journey, and how our perception of said objects is altered by different historical and cultural contexts.

With a long history of use extending from China to Europe, porcelain provides a rich canvas with which to articulate notions of a journey. Many of the objects in the exhibition contain iron oxide, a commonplace metal compound and veritable contrast to the immaculate and precious porcelain. This, coupled with the ephemeral qualities of porcelain itself, unveils the mutability of light and shadow and the convergence of the formal and the abstract across surfaces and shapes.

Through Coelho's porcelain and metal compounds, Passages synthesises constructed narratives that attempt to interpret themes of alteration, versatility and metamorphosis.

The work in this exhibition has been generously supported by the South Australian Government through Arts South Australia.

Passages is on view at Sullivan+Strumpf Singapore from 17 January - 16 February 2020. Entry is free. For more information, please visit www.sullivanstrumpf.com

Opening Reception: Friday, 17 January 2020, 7 - 9pm.

About Sullivan+Strumpf

Sullivan+Strumpf is one of Asia-Pacific's leading contemporary art galleries, representing the most engaging Australian and international artists of our time. Founded in 2005 by co-directors Ursula Sullivan and Joanna Strumpf, Sullivan+Strumpf has spaces in Sydney and Singapore and represents 39 established and emerging artists and artist estates from across the Asia-Pacific and East Asia. The gallery presents an ambitious program of diverse exhibitions, publications and talks, and an international art fair schedule spanning Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. Sullivan+Strumpf has proudly helped to foster the careers of some of the most significant contemporary artists in the region and remains dedicated to supporting artists to realise their visions and forge long-term artistic careers. www.sullivanstrumpf.com

Kirsten Coelho Bio

Kirsten Coelho works in porcelain creating functional forms and vessels of other-worldly perfection that fuse the formal with the abstract. Her work has been influenced by the history of ceramics, in particular the aging surfaces of nineteenth and early twentieth-century domestic enamel wares - jugs, flask, bowls, beakers - echoes of the pleasures of daily life which she reiterates in inviolate meditations on the history, purity and order of daily rituals and routines.

Having returned to Australia from London in the late 1990s, Coelho's concern with the formal archetypes of the historical household turned to the 19th Century Australia settler/migrant experience. The extraordinary dreams, ambitions and failings of these experiences are referenced in the luscious thick white glazes and pared back simplicity of Coelho's works, which consider how objects and art shape history and cultural memory.

Coelho was recently included in Inspired by Chatsworth: A Selling Exhibition at Sotheby's New York (2019), Ormolu at The National, Christchurch, New Zealand (2018), and the 2018 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Divided Worlds, curated by Erica Green. Recent solo institutional exhibitions include In The Falling Light at Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra (2015), which toured to Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle in that same year. Coelho also accepted an invitation to undertake a residency at Tweed Regional Gallery, Murwillumbah in 2015, which resulted in a solo exhibition, Portrait, at Tweed Regional Gallery the following year.

Kirsten Coelho holds a Master of Visual Art from the University of South Australia. Her work has been exhibited internationally at Masterpiece London (2019); Art Basel Hong Kong (2017); PAD London (2017); and TEFAF, Maastricht (2016).

Coelho's work is represented in numerous institutional collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Chatsworth House, UK; and the Boymans Van Beuningen Stichting Museum, The Netherlands. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the City of Hobart Art Prize (2015), the Sidney Myer Ceramic Award (2012) and the Josephine Ulrick Ceramic Award (2005).