Galerie Hors-Saison
5 Fenton Way
Kew 3101

Dates - 18 July - 31 July 2003

The weather was most peculiar the day I saw Gary Healey’s show of ceramic vessels at Galerie Hors-Saison. An icy wind that brought with it hail, and then strange patches of white-blue so typical of Melbourne Winter. The small gallery in the heart of Kew is a simple space. A bright cube with a glass front that offers up a perfect view of both the interior and exterior spaces.

It was an ideal setting for Healey’s new body of work. Small delicate vessels, twenty or so, were arranged in tableau reminiscent of Morandi paintings. They shared the same muted palette – icy blues, soft greens, slatey whites, creamy browns that are small enough to sit snugly in the palm of your hand.

But these were not domestic creatures by any means. Healey raises the bar for himself all the time. He starts with a traditional utilitarian bowl shape and then pushes it as far has he can, running a chopstick along the body as it spins at high speed, leaving a line that takes the eyes on a journey, or pushing the sides in so some pieces look on the verge of collapse. He uses Limoges porcelain often applying double, sometimes triple Celedon glazes to achieve a sumptuous lustre. They are perfectly at home in a gallery setting, cool and aloof in their little groups.

Healey is better known for larger work but an unforeseen Limoges supply crisis forced his hand somewhat and he scaled right down.  There is a sense that these works want to be bigger, that they are ‘in miniature’. But they have their own charms and Healey was pleased with the result.

He will return to the larger scale and is itching to do new work and is about to begin experimenting with wilder colour detail – electric blue, neon pink, acid yellow. Still the colours of nature, but this time reflecting what, there in the icy afternoon, we are all looking forward to – a sun-saturated summer.