Ramesh Nithiyendran with his installation Mud Men at NGA; supplied
What does fame feel like at 27? Most of us would not know. Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran does – he has had an incredible run of success in the past two years, and is perhaps the youngest artist to be commissioned for a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia in is history.
It would seem that smashing every ceramic rule works.
He was awarded the 2014 NSW Visual Arts Fellowship, administered through Artspace and Arts NSW; was winner of the 2015 Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award, Australia’s richest award for artists working in the ceramic medium; received a Grant from The Ian Potter Cultural Trust (2015) and a residency in Korea at the Clayarch Gimhae Museum.
He was also included in 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, has had his work featured in numerous art magazines and is about to have a solo exhibition at The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; and will represent Australia at the 2016 Kuandu Biennale, Taipei and the 4th Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale, also this year.
The Sri-Lankan born Sydney-based Nithiyendran, who is known for his raucous laugh and signature fashion-mosh style, has been described as flamboyant, irreverent and even dissident. While he is willing to embrace such terms, he is less willing to be called a ceramicist.
‘It is important to be non-medium specific when dealing with contemporary art,’ he told ArtsHub.
‘Contemporary ceramics is this hot topic at the moment but traditionally ceramics at the NGA has been housed in decorative arts. Interesting that contemporary art forces these institutions to redefine their structures,’ he added.
His NGA installation Mud Men comprises five large-scale ceramic sculptures, including Self-portrait with third leg 2 (2016). Each sculpture is positioned on a custom pedestal made by the artist, and they are Nithiyendran’s largest works to date, soaring to five metres.
Jaklyn Babington, Senior Curator of Global Contemporary Art Practice said of the commission: ‘Drawing on a wildly diverse range of subjects from phallus worship and military monuments to grunge and self-parody, Ramesh’s installation for the NGA is outrageous in all of the right ways.’
This is what he has to say about riding the ceramic trend, on making five-metre mud works and how Asia’s literacy for ceramics has a lot to teach Australia.
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While he is a staunch atheist, Nithiyendran’s work comments on the Hindu and Christian religions. He is known for his recurring use of the phallus motif to provoke discussion around sex, gender, religion and colonialism, explained the NGA.
‘Ramesh is at the forefront of an Australian ceramics revival, which is challenging orthodox views of ceramics as “craft”,’ added Babington.
He added that we can learn a lot from Asia. ‘It feels like there is no fetishisation of the material, the subject mater or me. There is more of a literacy around the ideas,’ he said.
Nithiyendran believes that contemporary ceramic awards are helping to change that.
Photos: 2015 Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award short listed Artists, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran.
The role of awards in nurturing change
Nithiyendran places great weight on winning the 2015 Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award, presented by Shepparton Art Museum (SAM).
He told ArtsHub of that experience: ‘Looking around I felt the most traditional … to me contemporary ceramics is using the contemporary materials available – it is about reflecting time and place.’
SAM is currently presenting the 2016 Indigenous Ceramic Art Award (ICAA), another acquisitive award that acknowledges the contribution and diverse conversations within the medium.
ICAA was awarded last week to Gallery Kaiela Artist, Yorta Yorta (VIC) Jack Anselmi and Cynthia Hardie.
And, opening this weekend is the 30th Gold Coast International Ceramic Art Award at the Gold Coast Art Gallery, judged this year by ceramic artist and curator Glenn Barkley. Last year the award went to Vipoo Srivilasa.
Mud Men
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Showing until January 2017
The work was produced during an artist-in-residence program at the National Art School, Sydney.
