Honor Freeman
An Airtight Container for Every Occasion, 2005
Slip cast porcelain, 15 x 110 x 40cm
Represented by Sabbia Gallery, Sydney
Artwork photographed by Greg Piper
Artbank e-bulletin - September 2007
Artbank work on exhibition in Sydney
Greetings from Artbank. Each year Artbank receives a number of requests to loan works from our collection for inclusion in art exhibitions. We are keen to assist with these requests as it gives the Artbank collection greater exposure and fulfils our charter of making artworks accessible to the public. Recently, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Sydney requested, one of Artbank’s newly acquired works by ceramicist Honor Freeman, be included in its Primavera 2007 which is the MCA’s annual exhibition of work by young Australian artists.
Freeman’s work in Primavera 2007 is profiled below.
Geoffrey Cassidy – Artbank Director – September 2007
Honor Freeman: From the fridge to the table, from the dishwasher to the gallery
It is said every 3.9 minutes, somewhere in Australia, a Tupperware party starts. As a result, just about every kitchen in Australia has at least one Tupperware container in its cupboards. It is this nostalgic familiarity that makes Tupperware’s lolly coloured assortment of beakers, ‘wonderbowls’ and stacks of the famous burping lids, so attractive. All are featured in An Airtight Container for Every Occasion, a work created by contemporary ceramicist Honor Freeman.
The work was purchased by Artbank in mid 2007 and is being featured in the prestigious annual Primavera exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.
Freeman’s work features 69 pieces of slip cast porcelain from casts of Tupperware containers and the array of beakers, bowls and lids appear to have come directly from the washing-up pile or the kitchen cupboard.
Freeman explains: ‘ My work is concerned with the ordinariness of everyday life, a commentary on the seemingly mundane and often overlooked. I seek to make visible the relationship between us and the objects we use, observing the gestures of everyday habits and the daily rituals we engage in unconsciously.’
Primavera showcases the work of young Australian artists under the age of 35. Founded in 1991 by Dr Edward and Mrs Cynthia Jackson and their family in memory of their late daughter Belinda, Primavera has featured – and established – some of the rising stars of the contemporary art scene. Artbank has acquired a number of works featured in recent Primavera exhibitions, including works by artists such as Monika Behrens, David Griggs, Madeleine Kelly, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Neal Smith, Christian de Vietri, Pedro Wonaeamirri and Danie Mellor (who is also featured in Artbank’s current national touring exhibition).
You can see Freeman’s work in Primavera 2007 at the MCA until 4 November 2007. The exhibition will then tour to the new Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Contemporary Art in South Australia in 2008.
