Sentimental Ornaments extends upon Casey Chen’s ceramics practice, where historical illustration, folklore, mythology, and pop culture are folded into a visual language that feels both intimate and expansive. Across hand-thrown plates and vases, Chen blends childhood nostalgia with long-standing East Asian ceramic traditions, inviting memory to sit beside material history, and letting the past surface in fragments, motifs, and playful collisions.
Behind each work lies a deft pairing of references: geometric patterns drawn from traditional sources meet allusions to cartoons, magazines, music, and gnarly throwbacks, creating what the artist describes as a “jamboree of whacky ideas.” In this new series, the interplay between popular imagery and classical ornamentation becomes a contemporary homage to the enduring history of Chinese porcelain, while also holding space for Chen’s wit, tenderness, and sense of humour.
Grounded in meticulous craft, Chen’s approach remains decidedly traditional, with each work hand-thrown and painted by the artist, then built through multiple firings that echo historic Chinese enamel traditions such as doucai and wucai. His practice also draws upon the archetypal imagery of the four great classic novels of Chinese literature, alongside the influence of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, producing a cultural pastiche that is at once self-exploratory and reverent. This exhibition marks Casey’s first solo commercial presentation since graduating from the National Art School in 2020, following his solo presentation at Bathurst Regional Gallery in early 2021.
