John Roy and the art of denial

John Roy is one of the three artists in Duck! currently on at the gallery. John works in ceramics and his work stands out amongst peers working in the same medium. Primarily figurative, it sets up associations between us and the things that we create - like buildings, the rabbit problem, relationships, religion .

We recently talked to John about his work.

MNG: You originally wanted to call the exhibition "Head in the Sand" or something similar. Can you talk about the ideas that started this series off?

JR: It was keep your head down, I was also the one that came up with Duck! It is pretty much self-explanatory I feel, when you look at what is going on at the moment.

MNG: Lots of people have commented on the patterns in this new series of work. They seem like the patterns and colour of New Mexico. Were you looking at these?

JR: I haven’t heard that one before. They are more like an abstracted camouflage pattern breaking up the lines of the pared back forms. They have more in common with street maps or circuit boards.

MNG: Your works are always perforated in some way. Anything you want to say about that? I know sometimes it suggests architecture...

JR: The holes and cuts are like drawing with dark and light, in that a hole is the blackest black, and when viewed from another angle light come through. I also like the contradiction it creates as the forms look solid and heavy. Sometimes they are about architecture.

MNG: I'm also intrigued by the way you use the brick patterns. In this series it seems to cement the idea of head in the sand, ie. the figures are stuck. What would you say about that?

JR: It is all about the traditional associations of the terracotta clay in this country.



MNG: And then there is the large impressive work with it's head stuck up the arse of someone else. What's going on there...?

JR: I felt the need to make a large piece as I can make larger works. I felt that people in Wellington had only seen smaller pieces and assumed that that was all I did.



MNG: Your work seems to also be about an aesthetic of awkwardness. Would you agree?

JR: No I see it more as more of a transformation, turning something into something else. I also like being ambiguous. A object is more interesting if it is about more than one thing.

More Hybrids by John Roy

It's the last weekend of Here and There and I'm looking at the largest Hybrid in the exhibition. A friend just came in and wondered if the figure wasn't more than a little introverted. With his gaze hidden by the building, the figure would seem to be using it as a periscope - staring into some internal void. And generally John's work is introspective - the way that good art sometimes is. It quietly thinks about the contemporary world and our place in it.

Talking to John Roy

We talked to John Roy about his latest exhibition Here and There.

MNG: You've often used rabbits in your work before. Why rabbits?

JR: I like to use rabbits because they say so many different things depending on the viewers reading of the work.

MNG: Your work has often engaged with architectural forms. But the Hybrids are a little different. Metaphorically all buildings are an extension of ourselves in that they are the product of human projects and labour. Is this what you are referring to, and what's the significance or meaning of the Hybrids?

JR: I see the Hybrids as a fusion of people and buildings - people being modified by the environment they live in.

MNG: Anything you want to say about the holes or perforations in your work?

JR: I like holes. I think of them sometimes being windows , other times I see
them as drawing with light and dark. A hole is the blackest black you can get, and at the same time it can let the light through.

MNG: And the soldier rabbits? Are soldier rabbits an actual breed...

JR: I used the soldiers as I liked the army in disguise aspect. I also liked the way the wall rabbits are abstract shapes and patterns from a distance, it is not until you get closer that you can tell what they are.

John Roy and his Hybrids

Are they buildings? Trophies to the instability of aesthetics? John Roy calls them Hybrids. They've started out as people and in the alchemy of art, transmuted into buildings. On each side where the base meets the buildings are a set of hands and feet as a reminder. John's signature holes perforate almost all the Hybrids along with formalist bands of colour. The largest Hybrid here suggests the Empire State building, while the one next to it, a mosque or perhaps the Chrysler building.