fumbles for rhymes at the Pah
“Von Tempsky Life and Death” by Chuck Joseph in Fumbles for Rhymes: works from the Wallace Arts Trust collection.
Chuck Joseph is enamoured of the elaborate ceramic centrepiece that was a familiar feature on an 18th-century fine dining table. He was introduced to ceramics by Chester Nealie at Teachers’ Training College and began his clay career in the 1970s while working in the Far North as an itinerant art teacher. In 1980 he and his partner, ceramic artist Louise Rive, began making domestic ware at Edge City, the studio they established on Westmere’s Garnet Road.
His ceramics are imaginative concoctions that offer wry meditations on the underlying dangers of life. "Von Tempsky Life and Death" is a menacing and extravagant lime green trophy overlaid with folklore. Set within a lurid, caterpillar-infested suburban garden is the legend of Gustavus von Tempsky (b. Königsberg in 1828), the Prussian adventurer, watercolourist and soldier, who was shot in the head at Te Ngutu-o-te-manu during the South Taranaki battles of 1868.
Word credit: Anna Miles, Vanished Delft exhibition catalogue, Pah Homestead, 14 March – 14 May 2017, p.17.
Artwork credit: "Von Tempsky Life and Death", Chuck Joseph, 2016, sculpted paper-clay, with glaze, oxides and gold lustre.
Fumbles for Rhymes runs until 6 March at Pah Homestead, 72 Hillsborough Road, Auckland 1042.
