3 May – 12 October 2025
Vipoo Srivilasa’s Flower Bears series (2010–2025) was inspired by an 18th-century Meissen Snowball Blossoms teapot, admired for its intricate hand-painted blossoms that demanded immense patience and skill. During a 2010 residency in Jingdezhen, China, Srivilasa began creating sculptures influenced by Tang Dynasty court ladies, whose plum-shaped figures symbolised wealth and health. Over time, these forms naturally evolved into bear-like shapes, adding a playful, approachable charm.
By combining delicate porcelain flowers with these whimsical bear figures, Srivilasa creates works that balance technical excellence with a light-hearted quality. His Flower Bear sculptures offer a support to contemporary life, each with their own divine purpose.
While Srivilasa’s practice primarily focuses on ceramics, he also produces works on paper, mixed-media sculptures, bronze statues, and large-scale public art installations. Over the past two decades, Srivilasa has made works that engage with complex questions of queerness, migration, and spiritual meaning, using an aesthetic and medium that is accessible, positive, and beautiful. His works often explore the dark parts of the human experience, including isolation, loneliness, and nostalgia, as well as joy, beauty, and hope in the midst of these struggles.
Featured image: Vipoo Srivilasa, Viritas, the Enhancer of Social Influence, 2024, Shepparton Art Museum Collection, purchase by the Friends of SAM, 2025. Photo: Leon Schoots © Vipoo Srivilasa
About the artist
Vipoo Srivilasa (b. 1969 Bankgkok, Thaliand) is a Thai-born Australian artist who is recognised as a leader in the field of ceramics. He lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia, where his studio, ClayLAB, is situated within the Kulin Nation/Cheltenham.
Over the past two decades, Srivilasa has made works that engage with complex questions of queerness, migration and spiritual meaning, using an aesthetic and medium that is accessible, positive and beautiful. His works often explore the dark parts of the human experience, including isolation, loneliness, nostalgia, as well as joy, beauty, and hope in the midst of these struggles.
Srivilasa has exhibited extensively around the world, including Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Saatchi Gallery, London; Ayala Museum, Philippines; Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan; Nanjing Arts Institute, China; and the National Gallery of Thailand.
Curator: Danny Lacy
Location: SAM Showcase 2, Level 2