David Ray is a contemporary ceramic artist, working and living in the Yarra Valley, on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people in Victoria. His ceramics have built a reputation for being wild and flamboyant Baroque creations that incorporate an abundance of colours, textures and decals onto handcrafted vessels. David Ray’s art provides a wry commentary on contemporary consumerism and the less celebrated aspects of Australian Cultural life.
Ray explores the products of eighteenth-century ceramic manufacturers including Wedgwood, Spode and Sèvres as representations of conspicuous consumption. The notions of display and privilege inherent in these objects inform his work which questions the role of ceramics in society as both utilitarian objects and as symbols of wealth and status. His work subverts classical forms with contemporary concerns and often explores the complex relationship between beauty and ugliness. The ‘hand of the maker’ is an idealistic notion he holds dear within his making process and is always distinctive within his work through the intentional contrast between the consistency and refinement of manufactured porcelain with his irregular, hand-molded shapes.
David Ray (AKA ‘The Duke of Dirt”) was born in 1972 in Ararat, Victoria, Australia. He graduated with Honours of Fine Arts (Ceramics) from RMIT, Melbourne 1995 and throughout his 30 year career, he has established himself as one of Australia’s leading ceramic artists. His artwork is held in numerous Australian and International collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Clay Studio Philadelphia, University of Queensland Museum of Art, and Victoria College of the Arts Margaret Lawrence Australian Ceramics Collection. He has been the recipient of numerous Art Awards including ‘2019 Winner of Excellence Award’ at the Victorian Craft Awards, ‘Manningham Victorian Ceramic Art Prize, 2017’, and was a finalist in the Basil Sellers Award in 2016 and 2010. David has undertaken residency programs internationally and nationally including The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Blue Coat in Liverpool UK through an Australia Council Grant, National Exhibition Touring Support research grand for Swan Hill (2004), and Artspace Mackay in Queensland (2018).
David Ray is also an accomplished Art Educator with an extensive background in teaching Art at RMIT University, Holmesglen TAFE. He is a Registered Teacher in Victoria, and has 25 years of experience teaching within various alternate and mainstream Secondary and Primary Schools. David is an experienced public speaker and facilitator of craft workshops for specialist groups, including seminars at the Australian Ceramics Triennale, Tasmanian Ceramics Association, and he is a Learning Mentor within the 2023 Blak Design Ceramics Program.
“The hand of the artist is never far from one’s consciousness when viewing my work, which is intentionally imperfect, asymmetrical and sometimes seemingly top heavy. Also lingering in one’s awareness is the nature of ceramics; usually pristinely designed and immaculately fashioned and fragile. These two opposing qualities are a reaction to the over-riding influence of machines as opposed to the natural.”