Richard Monger
i: @ilikemybodysglazed
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” — Carl Jung
Richard is a Melbourne-based artist whose practice explores transformation, perception, and the entanglement of material and psyche through sculptural form. Beginning with investigations into the body and a search for a liminal condition between ceramic and glass, his work evolves through fracture, fusion, and reconstruction toward processes of becoming. Working with porcelain, glass, and phosphorescent materials, he creates luminous vessel forms that operate through Ma, (intervals of light, time, and perception where meaning emerges through absence as much as presence.)
Central to the practice is the archetypal vessel, understood as a relational space of holding and transition, resonating with wabi-sabi ideas of impermanence and trace. Surface irregularities, translucency, and residual afterglow invite projection and perceptual instability. 'The Vessel Remembers Light', extends these investigations through works that absorb, retain, and release illumination as unfolding experience.
The Vessel Remembers Light'
2026, Mixed porcelain, Dark matter, glass, glaze, photoluminescence, Mother of Pearl.
12 x 10 x 10 cm
$1,688
The Vessel Holds Light
2026, Mixed porcelain, Dark matter, glass, glaze, photoluminescence, Mother of Pearl.
13 x 12 x 11 cm
$1,688
The Vessel Releases Light
2026, Mixed porcelain, Dark matter, glass, glaze, photoluminescence, Mother of Pearl.
11 x 12 x 10 cm
$1,688
My work is deeply connected to the theme of "Afterglow," and I continuously explore how light persists, both materially and psychologically, beyond the moment it is first shone. Using porcelain, glass, and phosphorescent materials, I create sculptural vessels that absorb, retain, and gradually re-emit light.
Through this gradual temporal change, the lighting is positioned not as a fixed entity, but as an afterimage, or residual state, retained within the material itself. This vessel functions as an archetypal form symbolizing containment, memory, and transformation. In the concept of "afterglow," it becomes a space where light is not merely seen, but also remembered. The surface irregularities, translucency, and afterglow create a shifting perceptual state where presence and absence constantly overlap.
My work explores how long an experience lingers after its superficial end. How a past moment continues to resonate through matter, perception, and memory.
In this sense, "Afterglow" is both a physical phenomenon and a psychological state of persistence, trace, and quiet continuation.