Poetry installations
Metal work
The act of constructing a conceptual space initiates a second presencing of the object : the object and all its apparent referents in material and form and the world of the imagination, a ghost of the subconscious. Therefore the piece presents the aspect of the void as equally important as the material substance of the work, it gives the work volume and presence, it is a paradoxical transformation of materiality.
The Narrative Forest is part of a body of work that began as an investigation into the space of the imagination. The poems in the setting of the park begin to redefine the viewers understanding of the space of the park, through the act of reading, the imagination posits a second understanding of the physical environment; there is an overlay of the poems on the park.
Once Removed
This proposal for Sculpture by the sea, is for a location on the rocks overlooking the sea. The piece will be made up of a series of men’s, women’s and children’s feet cast in crystal glass. The sense of the bodies that these feet recall, are those of the past. Raw and innocent, bathed in the salt air, on the rocks looking out to the sea, or toward the path at us, the viewers. In one sense, given that these glass feet signify a group of people, at various distances, with seemingly distinct postures, they hold an aspect of the ghost observer, an onlooker that also sees us, the viewers.
Our viewer interaction with these castings is a strange “group dynamic”, set into the backdrop of the dreamscape. These glass feet are a ghostly reminder of the presence of people past. The feet portray a unambiguous body language, given their position and proximity to one another and to the surrounding conditions of the site. Bondi and Tamarama on this walk are places to stand at the edge and contemplate the boundary between the sea and land, man and earth our life and its death.
This simple act of becoming aware of these boundaries and our place among them is something that all of us do, particularly as we confront the edge of the continent on the cliff’s edge. The scene typifies the events of a bygone everyday life in an imaginary moment. The potential narrative created by the adult feet standing firm before the innocent feet of the child, portrays a fundamental responsiveness of defending the young. …… This reminder of the past is a potent catalyst, reflecting upon our human condition today, raising an awareness in us all of how frail our existence may be. The feet seem to resonate with a lit energy, that of the last wisp of contact with the earth, the last visible grounded point for the spirit in the ghost. It is as if these bodies have dissipated in sea air. The gravity and weight of these souls is most apparent at the moment and the grounding point in which the earth meets the body, at their feet.
Nomad is equally ambiguous in its meaning . Nomad is a gorilla sculpture that appears in, and occupies, public places usually closed to artistic expression. It is conceived of a public sarcophagus a vessel of memory for the displaced. Like its namesake, the sculpture is a traveling piece, an art object without a home, that paradoxically is comfortable in many, different homes. The name, like Prone, suggests potential movement. Its portability is evident from the handles protruding from both ends that act as invitations to any passerby to lift the sculpture up and move it. The handles vaguely recall the supports for Asian litters. Like Prone, Nomad is a full form, whose bulges gently part to reveal a glimpse of the void within without permitting the view to really penetrate into the inner space.
Each piece is intended as a critique of site, environment, history and the present condition. In particular, the pieces are meant to help the viewer see a site or public space in new terms. By placing an art object that is a spatial volume on the site it is possible to provoke a level of intimacy between the body of work and the body, this gives measure to the site and its context. It is the subtle distinction between the object in space and the space in space .
Glass installaions
Wood sculpture
Each piece in this body of work is conceived as an intriguing container where the volume within the object is inaccessible to the eye and therefore is constructed in the imagination as a void with a distinct shape. The act of constructing a conceptual space initiates a second presencing of the object : the object and all its apparent referents in material and form and the world of the imagination, a ghost of the subconscious. Therefore the piece presents the aspect of the void as equally important as the material substance of the work, it gives the work volume and presence, it is a paradoxical transformation of materiality. The intention behind the work is simply to evoke resonant qualities, to provoke curiosity and thoughtful observation on the part of the viewer. By engaging the space of the imagination, the forces of analogy begin to search for referents with which to place this object in the world.