Intrinsically bound to the gallery through personal relationships built over time, each artist demonstrates a reflection on quotidian objects elevated through material and refined by their own hand. Stripped of artifice, the mise-en-scène invites the viewer into a utopian expression of a life lived with pure intent, approaching the Japanese principles of mingei (民芸), or ‘crafts of the people’. By associating Harrison’s salt-glazed porcelain vessels posed upon Loellman’s sinuous furnishings in walnut and charred oak with Coson’s monotype oil prints on canvas (depicting Venetian blinds in disarray), the environmental pillars of a home are synthesised within the gallery walls. Eschewing the heightened sculptural and decorative forms of which both Harrison and Loellman are today adept, here their output returns to the origins of their respective crafts and the monomateriality inherent to their foundational periods. “Paint reveals cloth which reveals nothing ultimately: there is no there there”, says Coson quoting Gertrude Stein, alluding to the meditative and strenuous repetition of her ‘painting’ practice that constitutes a constant use and re-use of materials — exploring the canvas as a window and a comment on public and private space.

The home is the place in which our domestic affections are focused. Some people find comfort in the uniformity of a collective set. For me, using a variety of exquisite and special objects every day creates a richness born from a feeling of familiarity and becomes something I cannot live without. An eclectic mix of pots, brought together out of necessity, allows for individual pieces to take on a special meaning, not through any intent, but simply because it happened that way. Change occurs when you see the same thing with infinite possibilities. If my pots resonate with you, then you understand the deeper meaning behind my work. Only through using them freely and without concern can their beauty be revealed. Picasso said “appreciate objects and eat them alive”.

— Steve Harrison (2023)