Artwork Details
Artist: Ché Finch
Medium: Earthenware, glazes, stains and oxides
Dimensions:193 x 223 x 4 mm
Purchase: NFS
© Ché Finch
Untitled #2
Summary
Ché Finch made Untitled #2 in her studio in 2011, a handmade ceramic plaque exploring the urban and rural landscape. It explores the transition between them, experimenting with the colours and shapes associated with both. The green vertical expanse to the right evokes a sense of a building or tree, and stimulates our inherent experience of landscape. It also references the artists own experience of landscape as a young child in South Africa, surrounded by landscapes dominated by vast expanses of veld, with mountains spontaneously appearing out of flat vistas, alongside much less dominant and sparse urban environments. Intimating a shared landscape experience referencing a visceral world where we might meld both, allowing these images to interplay, constantly shifting our environment in our minds eye to process the information. So when we see a building, we may sense a tree etc.
Untitled #2 forms part of several abstract works exploring the interplay between rural and urban spaces. An initial layer of oxide creates the basic shape of the landscape, this was then scraped and sponged away in areas to create tonal relief. Painted and poured layers of glazes, stains and oxides were then applied scraping away areas and using wax and latex resists to create a sense of depth. The bright yellow stain in the lower right of the tile references the sun 'within the earth', which is a recurring motif in Ché Finch's work referencing her early experiences of feeling the heat of the day in South Africa via the ground, where the heat of the sun builds up within the earth throughout the course of the day.
Untitled #2 encourages the viewer to reconcile their experience of both urban and rural landscapes.