James Lemon
James Lemon
(b. 1993, New Zealand. Lives and works in Melbourne)
James Lemon’s tactile and colourful ceramic works embody a sense of humour and are an expression of social and philosophical issues, from pop culture and religion to conservation and the world of insects. Lemon primarily works with clay but often employs other objects – bricks, precious stones and discarded ephemera – to bring his dynamic, sculptural works to life. With his interest in social media, Lemon embraces the digital space as an extension of his material practice.
For Melbourne Now, Lemon takes over a gallery space on the third floor of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia with an immersive, participatory work combining ceramics, painting, textiles and digital media. In a nod to philosopher Thomas Nagel’s 1974 paper ‘What is it Like to be a Bat?’, Swarming asks the onlooker: What is it like to be a bee? Inside an ultraviolet hive of activity, adults and children alike are invited to interact with soft pupae forms, learning through play about the importance of bee life in our ecosystems – and to human survival. Part playground and part photobooth, this NGV takeover is a first for Lemon in both its scale and interdisciplinarity.
Lemon was born in New Zealand but moved to Melbourne in 2012. He has developed exclusive collections for the NGV and Heide Museum of Modern Art; has exhibited at Melbourne Design Week; and has featured in publications including Wallpaper, Architectural Digest, Vogue Living, Vault, The Design Files, Yellowtrace, Real Living, The Journal of Australian Ceramics and Broadsheet. Lemon also teaches workshops and masterclasses at his studio and showroom in Northcote.
Lemon also has a collaborative work with Dale Hardiman in No House Style.
Hear Melbourne Now artist James Lemon discuss his tactile and colourful take-over of the third-floor gallery space of NGV Australia with… Read more