John Parker Exhibitions

John Parker

Ceramics of Unease

1 Nov - 25 Nov 2024

Artist Talk - 6 pm Thursday 7 November

Exhibition Works

Matt Black Haptic Bowl [COU-1]
Matt Black Haptic Bowl [COU-1] (2024)
Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-14]
Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-14] (2024)
Matt White Stud Bowl [COU-32]
Matt White Stud Bowl [COU-32] (2024)
Black Volcanic and White Penetration [COU-5]
Black Volcanic and White Penetration [COU-5] (2024)
Shiny Black Spotted Conical Bottle [COU-24]
Shiny Black Spotted Conical Bottle [COU-24] (2024)
Shiny Black Ridged Vessel [COU-15]
Shiny Black Ridged Vessel [COU-15] (2024)
Matt Black Volcanic V Bowl [COU-9]
Matt Black Volcanic V Bowl [COU-9] (2024)
Shiny Black Grooved Conical Bottle [COU-27]
Shiny Black Grooved Conical Bottle [COU-27] (2024)
Matt White and Black Penetration [COU-6]
Matt White and Black Penetration [COU-6] (2024)
Matt Black Volcanic Bowl [COU-29]
Matt Black Volcanic Bowl [COU-29] (2024)
Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-16]
Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-16] (2024)
Shiny Black Spotted V Bowl [COU-12]
Shiny Black Spotted V Bowl [COU-12] (2024)
Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-17]
Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-17] (2024)
Shiny Black Spotted V Bowl [COU-13]
Shiny Black Spotted V Bowl [COU-13] (2024)
Shiny Black Stud Bowl [COU-33]
Shiny Black Stud Bowl [COU-33] (2024)
Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-22]
Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-22] (2024)
Matt White Gobo Bowl [COU-34]
Matt White Gobo Bowl [COU-34] (2024)
Matt Black Haptic Vessel [COU-2]
Matt Black Haptic Vessel [COU-2] (2024)
Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-21]
Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-21] (2024)
Matt Black Volcanic Bowl [COU-30]
Matt Black Volcanic Bowl [COU-30] (2024)
Shiny Black and Black Volcanic Penetration [COU-8]
Shiny Black and Black Volcanic Penetration [COU-8] (2024)
Shiny Black Spotted V Bowl [COU-10]
Shiny Black Spotted V Bowl [COU-10] (2024)
Shiny Black Gobo Bowl [COU-35]
Shiny Black Gobo Bowl [COU-35] (2024)
Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-18]
Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-18] (2024)
Shiny Black Ridged Conical Bottle [COU-25]
Shiny Black Ridged Conical Bottle [COU-25] (2024)
Volcanic and Shiny Black Penetration [COU-7]
Volcanic and Shiny Black Penetration [COU-7] (2024)
Matt White Gobo V Bowl [COU-11]
Matt White Gobo V Bowl [COU-11] (2024)
Matt Black Haptic Vessel [COU-3]
Matt Black Haptic Vessel [COU-3] (2024)
Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-20]
Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-20] (2024)
Matt White Stud Bowl [COU-31]
Matt White Stud Bowl [COU-31] (2024)
Shiny Black Ridged Conical Bottle [COU-26]
Shiny Black Ridged Conical Bottle [COU-26] (2024)
Grey and Black Penetration [COU-4]
Grey and Black Penetration [COU-4] (2024)
Shiny Black Grooved Conical Bottle [COU-23]
Shiny Black Grooved Conical Bottle [COU-23] (2024)
Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-19]
Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-19] (2024)
Matt Black Volcanic Bowl [COU-28]
Matt Black Volcanic Bowl [COU-28] (2024)

Group Photos

 
John Parker, Ceramics of Unease (2024) - Shiny Black Grooved Conical Bottle [COU-23], Matt Black Haptic Vessel [COU-2], Matt White Stud Bowl [COU-32], Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-14], Shiny Black Ridged Conical Bottle [COU-25], Black Volcanic and White Penetration [COU-5]
 
John Parker, Ceramics of Unease (2024) - Shiny Black Spotted Conical Bottle [COU-24], Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-21], Matt White Gobo Bowl [COU-34], Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-17], Grey and Black Penetration [COU-4], Shiny Black Ridged Conical Bottle [COU-26], Shiny Black Spotted V Bowl [COU-12]
 
John Parker, Ceramics of Unease (2024) - Matt Black Volcanic V Bowl [COU-9], Matt Black Haptic Vessel [COU-3], Shiny Black Ridged Vessel [COU-15], Matt White and Black Penetration [COU-6], Shiny Black Grooved Conical Bottle [COU-27]
 
John Parker, Ceramics of Unease (2024) - Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-20], Shiny Black Spotted Bottle [COU-18], Shiny Black Stud Bowl [COU-33], Matt Black Volcanic Vessel [COU-16], Matt White Gobo V Bowl [COU-11], Shiny Black and Black Volcanic Penetration [COU-8]
 

Exhibition Text

John Parker's ceramic work is highly regarded both within New Zealand and overseas. Working from clean austere form, his pieces have both elegance and power. Using both his skill as a ceramicist and the skills which he has developed through a long association with the theatre, the artist creates pieces which inhabit their surroundings in much the way that actors inhabit a stage. Individual pieces have their own characters, and when placed alongside each other, these personalities interact to create a sum greater than the parts.

While Parker has previously created pieces in a range of colours ranging from sheer austerity to flamboyance, in his current exhibition he has pared back to monochrome, producing pieces predominantly in leather-like matt black and white and hard shiny black. In doing so, he has allowed focus to rest on texture and form.

A rigid linearity of form has long been a feature of Parker's work. His geometries are those of industrial ceramics, at least in part informed by such objects as high-voltage insulators. As such, the utilitarian styles of early 20th-century art are often implied; the dominating curves of art deco and rigorous purity of neoplasticism are touchstones in many of Parker's forms.

Ceramics of Unease raises the stakes on Parker's creations. The gentle bubbling of the surfaces of his earlier work has increased in pieces such as Shiny Black Spotted Bottle, suggesting water about to boil, and has broken the surface in the "Gobo" pieces, named for an element of theatrical lighting. The potentially phallic form of the artist's conical bottles is drawn into perspective by the title of his "Penetration" works. Drawing inspiration from the darkly surreal erotic nightmares of H. R.  Giger, these pieces become as if props for a science fiction film1, or fetishistic items for adult play.

The cinematic link is enhanced by the exhibition's title, which reflects that of "Cinema of Unease". In Sam Neill's documentary film of that title, the dark, gothic elements within New Zealand cinema were explored as possible reflections of the nation's struggle to find its own identity. Drawn from the same cloth, Parker's work has an edgy but distinctly antipodean gothic frisson: these are pieces which would as well decorate a lounge as a dungeon, yet which somehow seem to perfectly fit this darker side of New Zealand identity. The "Haptic" works, designed - as the name suggests - to be handled, feature harpoon-like metal barbs designed to harm. Parker's volcanic surfaces walk the borderline between organic nature and highly finished construction. The artist's aim, to both entice and repulse by presenting pleasant and unpleasant simultaneously, is intended to make the viewer cautious and uneasy.2 The juxtaposition of volcanic textures, leathery surfaces, and metallic studs and barbs suggests the double edge of dangerous beauty, that pleasure and pain are often two sides of the same coin.
 
1. Artist's statement, October 2024.
2. Ibid.