UWS Sculpture Award and Exhibition 2012 - Art Gallery - University ...

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ForewordSince 2004 the University has proudly hosted the UWS Sculpture Awardand Exhibition biennially on its Campbelltown Campus, which has become asignificant cultural event within Greater Western Sydney, growing in stature andreputation. The exhibition showcases outdoor sculpture by Australian artists,designed specifically for this environment. The competition in 2012 attracted adiverse range of entries by sculptors from around Australia, from which twentyseven finalists were chosen. The winning work will be acquired by the Universityand will reside permanently in the sculpture park located within the parklands,which stretches between the two main entrances of the campus.This landscape has become an important educational, cultural andrecreational space for both staff and students as well as the wider communityand residents of Campbelltown and will soon become the gateway to a majorresidential development. Through this exhibition a memorable public domainhas been created, where a vibrant community connects to a culture of discoveryand learning. This is particularly evident, through the primary and secondaryschool education programs which operate in conjunction with the exhibition.The University appreciates the support of both, Landcom as the sponsor ofthe People’s Choice Award and Quest Campbelltown Serviced Apartments,who has provided regional and interstate artists with complimentaryaccommodation whilst installing and de-installing their works on site. TheUniversity would also like to acknowledge the additional support receivedfrom Campbelltown Council and particularly Clr Anoulack Chanthivong, theMayor of Campbelltown, who is generously hosting a Mayoral reception for theparticipating artists at Campbelltown Arts Centre at the close of the exhibition,where the winner of the People’s Choice Award will be announced.Finally, the University acknowledges with gratitude the contributions madeby the curatorial panel and judges, members of the exhibition project team, allentrants to the competition and particularly would like to pay homage to thefinalists represented within this catalogue and exhibition.We warmly welcome all visitors to this exhibition to enjoy this wonderfulbiennial event, which celebrates the commitment, skill, passion and enthusiasmof these exhibiting artists.Professor Janice ReidVice-Chancellor, University of Western SydneyCoverJanik Bouchette, Resilience2010, winner of the 2010UWS Sculpture Award.Photograph by Kim Armstrong.Campbelltown2
EssayThe Fifth University of Western SydneySculpture Award 2012The finalists in the fifth UWS Sculpture Award and Exhibitionhave thoughtfully considered the context in which theirworks are placed, that being the grounds of a University.This is evident in both the composition and constructionof sculptures within the environment that encompassesthem, as well as the themes explored within these works.Establishing the relationship between a seemingly inanimateform and a particular landscape has been achieved invarious ways. Some artists have incorporated historicaland archaeological aspects of the site within the work itself,whilst others has drawn upon the majestic forms alreadyfound within nature, to emphasize its beauty and importanceto the continual survival of the human race. Many have alsorecreated or reused industrial forms repeated within ourbuilt environments suggesting an overdependence upontechnology and our ever growing isolation and separationfrom nature.Chris Leaver’s Antipodean Vision, one of the few figurativeworks, juxtaposes a giant rabbit with a portion of the famous18th Century Italian ceiling, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo,Allegory of the planets and the continents painted in 1744. Theworks are deliberately inverted in scale, as this artist plays asurrealist game with the viewer, as does, Jimmy Rix’s In thebeginning... by creating a pencil sharpener which appears athousand times larger than the real object. Both are usingscale to highlight a particular viewpoint, in Leaver’s casethe work is referring to the idealised euro-centric sense oflandscape and nature, during the period of exploration andcolonisation of new worlds during the 18th century. Rix’swork is far more personal, highlighting the importance ofdrawing in all art forms, this archaic instrument, the pencilsharpener could be considered almost a relic, set within aUniversity campus, whose students would be more likely touse a computer then a pencil.Itzick Fisher’s ....and on the fifth day has been inspired by thebook of Genesis, the day of creation when God is reputedto have created the creatures of the sea and air and hasutilised the seagull, as a symbol which has origins in both.Birds appear to be flying free from the very metal plates thatthey have been cut from, doubling as a towering cliff top,that bird forms are perched upon. These biblical overtonesare also found in Ro Murray’s, Two by Two which wasinspired by the story of Noah’s Ark. Twenty pairs of floatingvessels suspended above the ground, resemble boats orpods suggesting a narrative of survival, new life and thecontinuance of it, particularly in an age of mass migration.Will Coles’ Memorial to the unknown armchair general hasrecreated a familiar object, found within the viewer’s owndomestic spaces, suggesting an apathetic electorate thatpassively watches war from afar, physically and presumablyemotionally untouched by it. The image of the chair manifeststoo in the work of Sally Kidall, In the Bag: are we sitting comfortably?,refers to over consumption and materialism and its impactupon the planet and its delicate ecology. The hermeticallysealed bags filled with turf, balancing precariously on a seatsuspended on the lake, implies four individual biospheres,balanced between human survival and comfort. This workis questioning if we really value the earth’s resources whichtoo often end up as waste.Humour and playfulness are evident in the OK Collective(Oliver Cloke and Kathy Heyward) work, Tent in which theyhave created a functional tent from reclaimed businessmen’sshirts. The work comments about men’s traditional roles inwork and society, alluding to men as providers of shelter,which seems in opposition to their freedom and recreationalpursuits. Louisa Dawson’s dynamic and ironic work, NewArrivals, plays upon the visual tension created betweena boulder and a diving board which appears to be bentbeneath the weight of it. This work is a comment uponchanges in our natural world via urbanisation and the3
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Page 5 and 6: control icons found on electronic d
Page 7 and 8: Ingrid MorleyPocket fulls of Gold..
Page 9 and 10: Mark BoothU-ELB(STORM).300-88°F+F2
Page 11 and 12: Gary ChristianThe Atomic Family2012
Page 13 and 14: Will ColesMemorial to the unknown a
Page 15 and 16: Simon Alexander CookBrahmarina_Meno
Page 17 and 18: Louisa DawsonNew Arrivals201217
Page 19 and 20: Gary Deirmendjianseed |sēd|201219
Page 21 and 22: Itzick Fisher...and on the fifth da
Page 24 and 25: Christopher HodgesArtist StatementT
Page 26 and 27: Pin Hsun HsiangArtist StatementThe
Page 28 and 29: Sally KidallArtist StatementThrough
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Page 36 and 37: Ingrid MorleyArtist Statement“POC
Page 38 and 39: Ro MurrayArtist StatementTwo by Two
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Page 46 and 47: Jimmy RixArtist StatementI would li
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Martin SimsArtist StatementThis scu
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Vanessa StanleyArtist StatementThe
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Marcus TattonArtist StatementOur me
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Greer TaylorArtist StatementThe the
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The OK Collective - Oliver Cloke an
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AcknowledgementsThe University woul
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