POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

'Three dead passengers' by Gerry Wedd

Object No. 94/18/1

Covered urn (funerary urn), 'Three dead passengers', earthenware, Gerry Wedd, Adelaide, South Australia, 1993

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Summary

Physical Description

Covered urn (funerary urn), 'Three dead Passengers', red earthenware, wheel-thrown with modelled and applied relief, decorated with painted figurative scenes and text in bright coloured slips under clear glaze. The urn is of baluster shape with a waisted foot and ovoid body, the small circular mouth of the urn is recessed below the level of the rim, there are two small modelled loop handles applied shoulder to mid body. The domed cover features a knop modelled in the form of a car on a stepped square plinth, and has a short vertical flange. The upper part of the urn is white glazed and there are white glazed applied 'ribbon' bands encircling the rim, shoulder and foot with painted inscriptions: "Three dead passengers, in a stolen second hand Ford" ; "Outside Keith, near the border, wrapped around a tree, thrown across the road" ; "Tyres spinning like a ferris wheel at the Easter Show" ; the body of the urn is hand painted in black, blue, yellow, pink and green slips with a ground of roses and leaves and narrative scenes, portraits and text: a panel on one side shows a white car with three passengers in the front seat, a second panel on the other side illustrates a dead man lying on the ground, "thrown across the road" ; there are three small portraits: of a man, "he called everybody sport", of a youth, "one was wearing white flared trousers", of a girl, "she lived in a shed", there is also a small panel with three figures standing in front of a building ; the neck is decorated with a blue hatched ground and a yellow band with sgraffito inscriptions: "he smoked panatella cigars and kept to himself ; model / guillotine / Johnny Famechon / she collected model guillotines / tyre / spins" ; the car knop is white on a grey plinth and the remainder of the cover is decorated with a blue hatched ground and three yellow panels with painted inscriptions: "he called everybody sport smoked cigars and kept to himself, a photo of Johnny Famechon, there in his wallet ; she lived in a shed behind her parents house, she collected model guillotines ; one was wearing white flared trousers and a red and green check Miller".

DIMENSIONS

Height

250 mm

Width

180 mm

Depth

140 mm

PRODUCTION

Notes

This piece was designed and made by Gerry Wedd, in Adelaide, South Australia during 1993. This piece features the lyrics from the song 'Three dead passengers in a stolen second hand Ford', written by Stephen Cummings and Dave Graney and released by Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes on 'The Night of the Wolverine' album in 1993.

SOURCE

Credit Line

Purchased 1994

Acquisition Date

24 January 1994

Copyright for the above image is held by the Powerhouse and may be subject to third-party copyright restrictions. Please submit an Image Licensing Enquiry for information regarding reproduction, copyright and fees. Text is released under Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivative licence.

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