Neville Assad-Salha

B. 1954, Berri, Australia

Neville Assad-Salha is a second-generation Australian whose parents migrated from Lebanon to South Australia in the 1920s. He studied at the South Australian School of Art, taking a break to visit Lebanon and work as a potter in a village, where he crafted large-scale water jars using a kick wheel.

Upon graduating in 1976, he established a studio in a former congregational church in Dutton, located east of the Barossa Valley. Following this, he pursued an academic career, holding positions in various institutions and teaching ceramics at multiple universities in Melbourne, Victoria, and Adelaide, South Australia.

For over forty years, Assad-Salha has been actively engaged as a ceramist/potter, presenting numerous solo exhibitions and participating in group shows across Australia, Japan, and the U.S.A. He divides his time between his role as a professor of Sculpture and Concept Art at the American University of Beirut and his home in the Barossa Valley, Australia. His works are featured in numerous private collections as well as state galleries in Australia. Notably, he has received commissions from various establishments, including the Sydney Opera House.

About his Work

Neville Assad-Salha's work revolves around cross-cultural references, influenced by his extensive travels and collaborations with various artists. This experience has enabled him to engage with different cultural identities in his artistic practice. His works delve into the concept of space, not merely its physicality but also its symbolic representation.

Many of his pieces explore the human form as a vessel, while incorporating structural sculptural elements that examine architectural constructions as symbolic tombs representing birth, life, and death. Utilizing materials such as steel, clay, bronze, and stone, his artworks become spatial diagrams in themselves.

Assad-Salha also experiments with installation performance pieces, creating large-scale clay forms within the landscape and firing them on-site. His works range in scale, from small bowls that can be held in the palm of one's hand to expansive structures that can be entered and experienced as dwellings.

Ziad Abillama