Alan Constable Australian, b. 1956

  • Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia
     
    Alan Constable's singular sculptures of cameras, telescopes, projectors, and binoculars are imbued with a heightened tactility and inner life. Legally blind and deaf, Constable is renowned for his ceramic cameras that reflect his life-long fascination with old cameras, when he began constructing replicas of cameras from cereal cartons and glue at the age of eight. At the studio Constable holds research images or source objects millimetres from his face, committing the form to memory by tracing the surface with his fingertips. Every protrusion, button, and lens of a specific camera model is faithfully captured in intricate detail, down to tiny scrawled lines and letters. Form and perspectives shift and Constable’s re-interpretations become at times anthropomorphic vessels and totems.
    The curator Matthew Higgs stated that "Constable, who is legally blind, makes incredible ceramic sculptures of cameras, which should, in my opinion, be in every major museum collection."
  • Alan Constable has been working at the Arts Project Australia studio since 1991. Solo exhibitions include Alan Constable, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, 2015 & 2018; Alan Constable: Close-Up, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, 2015; Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, 2015; Alan Constable (Ten Cameras), South Willard (curated by Ricky Swallow), Los Angeles, 2013; Viewfinder: Alan Constable Survey, Arts Project Australia, Melbourne, 2011; Constable, Stills Gallery, Sydney, 2011; and Alan Constable Clay Cameras, Helen Gory Galerie, Melbourne, 2009. Participation in group exhibitions is extensive and include The Museum of Everything, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmania, 2017; Spring1883, Sydney, 2017; NADA New York 2017; Let’s dance (curated by Charlotte Day), Arts Project Australia Gallery, Melbourne, 2017; ACTION, CAMERA!, The Gallery of Everything, London, 2017; and Sydney Contemporary in 2018. Constable has been a finalist in a number of prominent art awards including the Victorian Craft Award in Melbourne and his work is held in the collections such as the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), The Museum of Everything (London), Gold Coast City Gallery (Surfers Paradise), Deakin University (Melbourne), Orange Regional Gallery (Orange); The Arsenal, Montreal.
  •