The Last Blast: A Forest of Seduction and Fear (Twilight), 2023, Hot sculpted uranium glass, hand built ceramics (glazed and unglazed), hot sculpted furnace glass, found charred wood (four components), UV lights, LED lights, reactive sound elements, and soundscape composed of field recordings of Geiger-Muller Counters.
The Last Blast: A Forest of Seduction and Fear, explores the interplay between curiosity and fear, through the melding of conceptual intentions and material results, in an immersive ceramic-glass installation.
Drawing from human experiences derived with Fungi, forms evoking mushrooms act as metaphors for the tension of fear and curiosity. These set of emotions and experiences are physically manifested through the potent materiality of uranium glass, with its revealing properties making the invisible (radiation) visible.
To convey this moment of tension, the irradiated forest scene, aims to lure the viewer through the seductive glow of uranium mushrooms. The intent to create a sense of awe, as one considers these ambiguously dangerous forms. While immersed within this paradoxical landscape, ambient forest noises interspersed with field recordings of Geiger Counters aim to convey a sense of introspection accompanied with unease, alerting one to the lurking presence of radiation.
Additionally, reactive sound elements intend to confront the viewer with anxiety inducing ‘clicks’, intensifying the fearful aspects of the work, whilst challenging and ‘playing’ with the viewer’s misconceptions surrounding radiation.
Through its (Anthropocene) engagement with mushrooms, radioactive materials and the environment, The Last Blast: A Forest of Seduction and Fear evokes elements of the sublime, societal apprehensiveness with radiation, and its relationship to the 20th century.
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Raymond Huynh is an Emerging Sydney based Artist who is currently studying at Sydney College of the Arts. He keeps a broad practice, working with Ceramics, Glass, Photo-media, and Sound, with investigations surrounding botanicals, ‘the elemental’ and theories of Craft. Emphasising materiality, and harnessing the sensorial, transformational, and distinct processes and properties of materials. He collaborates with Ceramics to meld embodied knowledge and material focus with conceptual driven works.