Five Minutes With... Kenny Pittock
Kenny Pittock at work. Image: the artist.
We spend five minutes with ceramic artist and painter Kenny Pittock discussing his new series of work Jamming, paying tribute to JamFactory as part of the upcoming exhibition Pop Mart.
Tell us a bit about your background. What drew you to pursuing ceramics and art, and what inspires you to continue creating new works?
Growing up I was constantly writing and drawing and always making things but I never thought being an artist was really a job someone could do. I think in my head an artist was like a ye olde job from a history book or a fairy tale. When I was 20 I had major spine reconstruction surgery and so spent a year in bed recovering. During that time I made a lot of drawings as that was kind of the only work I could really do. I think having that year where I was physically and mentally unable to make sculptures or paint, probably inspired me to be quite productive in the years after. Unlike my drawing and painting practises, clay is a very slow medium, and the slowness can be very meditative.
Talk us through your series for JamFactory’s Pop Mart. How did you select these objects to recreate and what meaning do they have to you?
For this exhibition at JamFactory I've created a new series of ceramic sculptures titled Jamming. The series consists of six life-size sculptures of a jam jar, jam donut, Jam Fancies, Pearl Jam CD, Space Jam VHS and a pair of jim jams. This jam packed series was inspired by some of my favourite sources of comfort and draws upon nostalgia to playfully respond to the notion of self preservation in what has been a difficult year for many.
Kenny Pittock at work in his studio. Photo: Emmy Clifton.
Pearl Jam, 2021, hand-painted acrylic, hand-formed ceramic. Image: the artist.
Your work seamlessly combines art and humour which can often be a tricky thing to do. Can you walk us through your process from designing to your methods of making?
My approach varies a little bit from piece to piece, often beginning with wordplay and from there I play with whether the idea should become a sculpture, or a drawing, installation, book, or something else entirely. I think humour can be a great entry point to talking about most things, and one of my favourite things is hearing people laughing in an art gallery.
This is your first exhibition with JamFactory, what do you hope the audience takes away from your work?
I'm very excited to be showing here at JamFactory. I love Adelaide, and have visited a few times in the last couple of years for exhibitions at Hugo Michell Gallery. My hope is that people feel uplifted by the Jamming series and that it provides a sense of hope in what has been a challenging year.
Kenny Pittock’s Jamming series will be showing as part of
Pop Mart in Gallery Two from the 26 February – 26 April 2021.
Kenny Pittock
Pittock received an Honours Fine Arts Degree from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2013, and since then has had solo exhibitions in Italy and Singapore, as well as consistently exhibiting his work throughout Australia in galleries including ACCA in Melbourne, Pica in Perth, Artspace in Sydney, Hugo Michell Gallery in Adelaide and MONA in Tasmania. In 2017 Pittock was the recipient of the Redlands Emerging Artist Award. Pittock’s work is represented in major collections including Artbank, Melbourne Town Hall, University Queensland, Deakin Universiy, Monash University Museum of Art, ING Bank, as well as many private collections.
Strawberry Jam, 2021, hand-painted acrylic, hand-formed ceramic. Image: the artist.