Hong Kong-born and Australia-raised Renee So’s ceramics and textiles draw upon different sources, ranging from 17th-century ceramics such as Bellarmine (Bartmann) beer jugs to ancient vessels from Assyria, Egypt and Colombia and modernist textiles designed by the Bauhaus. Her trans-historical and global points of reference and her playful merging of ancient and modern forms is a contemporary take on the interest of 20th-century artists in ancient material culture.
Janus Vessel Man is a stoneware vessel which takes the form of a two-sided, three-footed figure. Created using hand building techniques, it is inspired by Janus heads, Bellarmine jugs, Chinese Neolithic tripod pots and the historical representation of bearded men. Janus was the Roman god of transitions, portrayed with two faces – one facing the past and one facing the future.
‘The intention of this work was to make a 2 in 1 figure, something which could be viewed from front or back. I worked without a sketch, making it up as I went along...so it is freer and slightly different in spirit to the other Bellarmine vessel men, which are based on drawings.’
In Janus Vessel Man, the trajectory of material culture is also implied: Bellarmines for example were exported globally, often as tourist souvenirs, and were first brought to Britain in 1500. Discovered all over the world in sites of archaeological interest, they now tell a particular history of European travel, trade and colonial passage. So’s work will sit alongside global-inspired Modernist art in Bristol Museum & Art Gallery’s collection while reflecting on it and looking forward. This includes work by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Jacob Epstein and the abstract artist Aubrey Williams, who incorporated motifs from Mayan art and Warau tribal art from his native Guyana into his painting. Equally, So’s work connects with aspects of BMAG’s collections beyond art, including applied art, British archaeology, Egyptology and world cultures, and blurs the boundaries between them.
