When Sydney artist and designer Evi O visited the Grayson Perry exhibition at MCA last year with Saint Cloche gallery director Kitty Wong, the pair found themselves mesmerised by Perry’s giant vase works.
‘We thought, wouldn’t it be interesting if we experimented with a show where painters and ceramicists are paired together?’ Evi explains. Soon enough, Kitty was planning an exhibition in which three local painters were partnered with ceramicists of their choice.
Incorporating collaborative works by Helen Earl x Ingrid Bowen, and Agatha Pupaher x Joanna Cole, ‘Common Ground‘ brought Evi O and Milly Dent together. Turns out, they had more in common than expected.
‘We used forms that Milly literally cast off eggplants – later to discover it was in fact both of our favourite vegetable!’ Evi says! To that end, each piece was named in reference to this mutually-loved vegetable – including the ‘Brinjal cups’, ‘Nasu Vases’ and ‘Lilek tray’.
Combining Milly’s distinctive marbled glazing effect with Evi’s love of geometric forms and clean lines, the collection is bold and quirky, yet effortlessly restrained.
Both Milly and Evi each have a solo show scheduled later this year with Saint Cloche – Milly in September, and Evi in October. The likeminded creatives also plan to continue working together on more ceramics – they’re planning a second collection, due out before the end of the year.
