Alan Constable

Alan Constable is an accomplished ceramicist, painter, and draughtsman, best known for his ceramic cameras and optical instruments, including telescopes and binoculars. Legally blind, Constable works closely with referent objects, committing their forms to memory before crafting them in clay. His hand-built pieces are pinched, pushed, and moulded, resulting in a gestural tactility with lustrous, wet-finish glazes. This lifelong fascination began in childhood when he made cardboard replicas of cameras.

Alan Constable has worked with Arts Project Australia since 1991 and has exhibited widely in both solo and group shows nationally and internationally. A major survey exhibition, Viewfinder: Alan Constable, was held at Arts Project Australia in 2011. His solo exhibitions include Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024; Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, 2015; and Alan Constable/Ten Cameras, South Willard, Los Angeles, 2013, curated by Ricky Swallow. Recent group exhibitions include Portrait23: Identity, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2023; Eyes that see, Blindside, Melbourne, 2022; Craft Contemporary, Craft Victoria, Melbourne, 2021; Why take pictures?, Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Melbourne, 2019; The Museum of Everything, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Hobart, 2017; and Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2014.

His work is held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; The Museum of Everything, London; Artbank; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; and The Arsenal, Montreal. Constable is represented by DUTTON, New York; Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney; and Arts Project Australia, Melbourne.

Artworks — Exhibitions