Penny Byrne

Australian artist Penny Byrne's sculptural works are politically charged, highly engaging and often disarmingly humorous. Using materials such as bronze, glass, vintage porcelain figurines and found objects, Byrne's work presents an ongoing inquiry into popular culture and international politics.

Drawing from her training as a ceramics conservator, Byrne reconstructs manipulated figurines from damaged and antiquated ceramic objects found in op shops and trawled online. Her reconstructions, which whimsically yet darkly err on the knife-edge of satire, are loaded with the weight of the overt political issues that pervade out time and legacy.