The work is based loosely upon the story of Alice and wonderland. The painting is mainly concerned with the indivdual character of Alice, having extracted herself from the imposed protocols of the social, political and cultural environment, including the narrative structure of the story itself. Alice is presented almost as a survivalist, the use of the helmet, (similar to WW1), depicted symbolically as way to emphasise the idea of a futile mask of protection against a hostile world. The use of the social semiotic sign (specifically height, scale and distance), here is an attempt to create a solidarity and subsequently a dialogue with the viewer, layering the images and effectively collaging ideas together through the various elements. The intention is to allow the chemistry to work through the active questioning engagement of the viewer/spectator. To create a slower, more intimate response with the image and object, (one of the reasons for using the vessel), linking the ambiguity of functional vessel, decorative object and social/ political narrative.
In the context of the 'glimpse' culture of our everyday day contemporary world, the attempt is also to make visible the pleasure of the material and process involved in the making of such work. Both the throwing and painting have strangely much in common in that they are both very present minded intimate activities that have extraordinarily therapeautic qualities that I don't really understand. In this way, such processes work at a very 'interior' level and the hope is that this is communicated as part of the overall experience of viewing the work. Much like examples of studio pottery, such as Leach or Hamada, in which great attention is made to making the viewer aware of the sheer delight in the making of the object, the tactile concern, playing out in the imagination of the viewer.
The work is thrown in sections in porcelain, covered in an 'impasto' porcelain slip using a Hakeme Korean brush and then painted with Chinese and watercolour brushes and incised with a black underglaze composed of iron and cobalt oxides. The vessel is then fired to stoneware temperatures in a single firing.
Much of the choice of composition is intended also to reflect ceramic painting traditions including Archaic Greek ware using incisions through the underglaze pigment onto the raw clay body.