Scott Duncan, Summertime Blues, 2023. Raku clay, underglaze, glazes and acrylic, 77 x 50 x 48cm. Photograph: Silversalt Photography. Courtesy: the artist and The Egg and Dart, Wollongong.

We are looking at a new major work in Scott Duncan’s studio. It has the appearance of a mid-century vessel emerging from what feels like chipped away concrete aggregate. This chunk is surfaced with what appears to be small tiles from the weathered frontage of an old corner store. As the artist says, “I want it to look like an excavation of a milk bar from the 70s.” But while the piece suggests an amalgam of materials, these are wholly ceramic objects with material and conceptual integrity. Darker glazed patches of ceramic mimic the aggregate and the small tiles are formed by a pattern pressed into the clay from the base of a bread crate.

As he assesses the qualities of the newly fired object, Duncan states, ”I’m not a tromp-l’oeil artist.” His core objective is to transfer idea to form, later summarising that, “I made this because I wanted to see what it looked like.” Consistent with this, Duncan talks about figuring out how to make things as he is making them. The ideas are generated in clay with very little drawing. In the place of drawing is an experimental approach to tools. “Bits of stuff from the kitchen, dome moulds, bevelled edges. I used wedges of balsa to imprint those patterns,” pointing to the clay circular decoration on one of his iconic bird vessels (which another visitor described as feeling like embossed leather bags). These adaptive tools allow him to explorequalities which are not usually found in clay. “I want to explore added texture – texture that does not belong in traditional pottery.”

Another development is the artist’s use of text fragments to spark memories or unearth histories. The wall works Hot Dog and Chewie loop around through word definitions, graphic design memories and contrasting textures. Circling this is wit and nostalgia for forms that fold in through generations. Like the feeling of chewing gum in your mouth, then spat out and deposited on a surface, Duncan’s work is a textural, sensory realm hardened into ceramic form.

Summertime Blues is Scott Duncan’s second solo show at The Egg & Dart.

Follow this artist