As Man Made is Tesch's first solo exhibition in Australia, the occasion presents us with an opportunity to see what the work reveals of the maker. We can ponder what might be quintessentially Australian or Germanic in Tesch's work. Born and trained in Melbourne as a ceramicist, Tesch is the son of German migrant parents yet has spent most of his career working and exhibiting in contemporary art galleries in Berlin.
Man Made presents forty, large-scale ceramic objects that hang from the wall, rise from the floor, and are placed on low-rise tables or rock gently on plinths. All three of Craft Victoria's gallery spaces are filled with objects ranging from 35cm to 92cm in height. These perfectly honed square and rectangular forms resemble architectural components that seem to be waiting for inclusion into the framework of a building.
If these objects were to be used as building materials, they would sit firmly in the thermal-mass camp. The sort that is favoured in European buildings made of concrete blocks, marble columns or hewn stone. There is not a trace of corrugated iron, hand sized, friable, terracotta bricks nor timber veneers utilised by Australian builders. Tesch's component forms recall the dense longevity of European architecture compared to the ventilated and lightweight approach of Australian building. In other words, European solidity compared with the ephemeral Australian vernacular.
Works with titles such as ‘Black Lip', ‘Long Jaw' and ‘Cross Eyes' assist with an anthropomorphic reading of facial features in these forms. Similarly, ‘Swan' and the range of crocodile inspired titles guide the viewer towards an abstracted reading of the forms. These works recall the ceramics of Japanese/American artist Isamu Noguchi. In particular, ‘Lonely Tower' (1952) reduces the necessary motifs of figure and building to its barest essentials. As with Tesch's work there is a strong play of positive and negative openings and subtle protrusion. Both ceramicists acknowledge the crucial act of controlling thickness and making this the design focus of their forms.
In the ‘Char Club' series, Tesch's impeccably gouged indentations break through into the hollow interior. While we can delude ourselves that this work might simply be solid cast objects, Tesch cheekily reveals a vastly different reality. Man Made vessels are a feat of ceramic skill. In their quiet simplicity their existence is only possible through a carefully honed combination of clay type, structural manipulation and firing. To enable such large forms to be constructed, Tesch hand-kneads a particular combination of clay with the inclusion of grog or pre-fired clay. This clay is sturdier, lighter and shrinks less than porcelain for example. Alone, its bare surface would simply look like a rough building brick. Therefore Tesch adds to the damp surface many layers of slip made from finer clay. This thick outer casing is then tenderly burnished to achieve the satiny patina and warmth of skin.
Andreas Tesch Char Club
Tesch must fire his kilns to more that 1200 degrees Celsius. Just a tap of your knuckle on the work achieves the bright musical tone. At these high temperatures, released from its chemical bond, clay starts to wilt and move. However, Man Made is full of large forms with astoundingly crisp and straight sides. Tesch must have devised a system to support the walls in parallel. ‘Char Club' gives us a hint and his secret is revealed. Internally, a permanent clay scaffold is built to shore up each facet of the form. This device allows for the thin clay walls keeping the pieces structurally sound and physically light considering the overall mass of the forms.
The colour palette used is devoted, and reduced to the mineral heritage of clay: red iron, manganese black and kaolin white. Yet, I feel the intention of the palette is to recall features of Australia's drier landscapes. While surfaces resemble cracked clay riverbeds, reptile skin and the infestation of termites, they have been affectionately rendered. The satin finish is a fond memory of the marks of sun burnt hardship and drought, not a dry, scorched, flaked reality. One wants to touch and caress these surfaces, to remember its beauty from a cool place where water is bountiful and the sun doesn't kill. These works act as expatriate shrines.
The works ‘Mr Squiggle' (an affectionate recollection for myself as well) and ‘Lucy' are bowl and tile forms inlaid with terracotta swirls on a white and black background. This fluid line work is reminiscent of many things: organic growth, aerial views of tracks and rivers, and indigenous body art painting, in particular, Emily Kame Kngwarreye's work. It is these works that clearly position Tesch's influences. The inclusion of these patterns, tip the balance towards an Australian experience and recollection of place.
Installation shot of Andreas Tecsh Man Made with Mr Squiggle in middle ground
It is interesting at this point to compare Andreas Tesch's work with Nigerian/British ceramist Lawson Oyekan. Oyekan works with an almost identical palette of materials, heavily grogged clays in shades of terracotta and cream. He hand builds vertical closed vessels, reminiscent of fertility figures, African mud huts and grain containers. This palette of colours and dry hand manipulated surface recall his African roots as a basis for work that comments on the global human condition.
The consistent decorative motif running through Tesch's work is the depiction of the nature of solidity. As discussed earlier, the strictures of the ceramic process prohibit the making of solid forms demanding the use of walls, skins, armature and cavity to create the illusion of density. To this technique Tesch applies an abstracted representation of the effects of the Australian climate. Where, a seemingly solid material has been bitten, chewed, cracked and decayed it exaggerates a temporal order. Tesch's forms depict the ravages of a sun burnt country yet are all the more wondrous from the exposure.
While the works spoke loudly, Tesch's installation did not assist in telling a story. It might have been inspiring to play with the architecture of the gallery. Forms may have been treated as component blocks installed into the window niches, as walls or supportive beams posing a question about their relative strength or fragility. Grouping could have been based on slip colour or decorative motif. A landscape of forms; hills, rivers, ravines and gorges, could have been laid out across the floor, playing with relational scale. In Man Made the forms where placed alongside like forms. Tiles hung with tiles, rectangles stood with rectangles and bowls gathered with bowls. Despite its perfunctory layout, the effect was elegant and spacious allowing the intricacies of each object to be appreciated.
Man Made displays vigorous and confident work, of a scale and type that we rarely see crafted and exhibited in Australia. It is wonderful that Tesch has chosen to exhibit in his old hometown of Melbourne. I was fortunate to witness the opening night floor talk. Tesch's wiry frame and fastidious German grooming was a deceptive visual foil to a person able to construct such labour intensive, large scale forms. On the night, his gregarious response to the arrival of old friends, his larrikin attitude to his work and self-deprecating humour clearly marked his Aussie heritage. Internationally his work sits comfortably in the neo minimalist camp, yet the warmth of his palette and surfaces and the use of subjective motifs disclose his Australian roots.
