Despard Gallery is proud to present Good Luck, Babe the highly anticipated inaugural solo exhibition by emerging Tasmanian ceramicist Rosanagh May.
Distinctive to May’s practice is the combination white clay adorned with hand painted in black underglaze. Across each surface, familiar excerpts of song lyrics carefully weave their way through detailed illustration and patterning. Inspired by the expressiveness, persuasion and intimate connection that comes with song, May’s work demonstrates how music and art share a common language, including an ability to connect people through shared experience and articulate personal feelings.
Underpinning May’s first major solo exhibition is a celebration of the ballads and storytelling that underpins the genre of country and western. Drawn to its sincerity and candid attitude, May’s practice honours the values that country music offers, including hard work, camaraderie, resilience, yet also individualism and freedom. These parallels speak to creativity that is authentic, whittled down to its principal elements and being comfortable in one’s own skin, both heartfelt, yet slightly tongue-in-cheek.
Overall, the exhibition gives a nod to how country music and ceramics has evolved, from closed tradition to being inclusive and a new form of expression. Becoming a medium that remains grounded in the modesty of craft, yet reframed and modelled into a language with renewed relevance.