Madeleine Thornton-Smith

Remediation is the act of re-forming an object out of a material from which it isn’t usually made. Madeleine Thornton-Smith uses remediation as a method of investigating medium specificity—in particular the location where, and the manner in which, one distinct medium ends and another begins. Employing a slow process of accumulation and repetition, she uses slip-casting to bring together commonplace studio material surfaces—bubble wrap, acrylic paint, polystyrene, expanding foam, render and concrete—with archetypal forms from fine art and ceramics—vessels, plinths, canvases and tiles. Thornton-Smith uses these mimetic and composite practices to re-evaluate material hierarchies and to raise questions about the status and value of ceramics, ‘art’ and ‘craft’.

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This exhibition was undertaken in conjunction with a three-month residency at RMIT:SITUATE in 2018, This award was generously supported by the RMIT School of Art Bachelor of Art (Fine Art) (Honours).