STATEMENT

Walk the Line – Version 7 is part of a new sculptural collection called Line, and this series marks a new direction for Csongvay Blackwood and our ceramic art practice. Line presents a ceramic sculptural series that visually explores the language of the line by translating lines found within elemental symbols, written languages, architectural styles, fusing these forms into a unique visual language.

Csongvay Blackwood is a Melbourne based collaboration best known for layered geometric ceramics, ranging from functional vases to larger sculptural pieces. Walk the Line - Version 7 is the first piece of our Line series to be publicly shown and is based on years of research and development. More than two hundred designs were sketched in the search for forms that flowed as a collection, while at the same time functioning as standalone pieces. Twenty-something designs were eventually chosen to form a visual vocabulary, and then prototypes were handmade, fired, and then amended and remade multiple times before the final forms were realised. This process of research and design required the development of additional skills and commitment of time to realise the high level of control and refinement required by these structurally complex ceramic pieces.

Csilla Csongvay and Matt Blackwood. Photo: Alison Cosker

Csongvay Blackwood is a Melbourne based collaboration between Csilla Csongvay and Matt Blackwood. For twenty years they have worked together in various artforms: documentary films, public art, and literature. For the last seven years the duo has been developing ceramic artworks that explore the possibilities of geometry. Csongvay Blackwood’s design aesthetic references architecture, alphabets, and symbols. The resulting interplay of movement from stillness, lightness from weight, and the tensions that exist between the curve and straight, all combine to form the creative foundation of Csongvay Blackwood.

Walk the Line – Version 7, 2023
Stoneware ceramic
280mm L x 70mm W x 270mm H
$9,900