Art, object and domestic sign
A Halifax pancheon, a large, metal tub, once holding milk in the dairies and kitchens of a bygone era, now rests upon tiles on a gallery floor. Worn with age the pancheon's rusted surface invites us to touch it, seemingly inviting us to share its history in an intimate way.
In Susan Ostling's exhibition, Art, Object and Domestic Sign, the Halifax pancheon is just one of many old domestic objects which accompanied the artist's ceramic sculptures. Stirring sentiments of nostalgia these domestic objects are used to allure her audience, as well as serving as moulds or patterns for her ceramic pieces. However, this invitation to experience the sentiments of nostalgia was immediately withdrawn.
Like the commodity sculpture of Haim Steinbach, which, after playing upon the consumer's instinct to touch a product, denies them the opportunity, Ostling invites the interaction of her audience, but immediately repels them by the cold white minimal grid of tiles upon which the objects are placed. The viewer is left in no doubt that what at first sight appear to be domestic objects are now situated in the domain of high art.
By denying the audience's impulse to touch, Ostling puts into question the way in which we interact with ceramics as a sensuous or tactile medium. The surfaces of her large unglazed vessels bear marks, as do the actual domestic objects, but they are large, bold geometric marks. They are self-consciously artistic signs, antithetical to the real marks of age which are ingrained upon the surface of the functional objects. These self-conscious, artificial art-marks repel the touch: one does not touch Art.
It is also significant that these objects and ceramic pieces are vessels. Beside