Vibe - 385 Bourke Street Melbourne

vibe | melbourne
Given how many sculptors there are in Melbourne, the city
centre should be abuzz with challenging and stunning works.
Younger artists such as Louise Paramor, Ben Armstrong,
Ronnie van Hout, Sam Jinks, Lisa Roet, Nick Mangan, Ruth
Hutchinson, Heather B. Swann, Juan Ford and many more
should be adorning the streets and walls of Melbourne’s CBD.
But, for the moment, the arch-aesthetic conservatism of the
city’s father figures remains all too prevalent
However, that may be about to change and, with it, the sense
of the city itself. Public art, like architecture, marks a city.
The vast Docklands project, with a few exceptions, proved to
be a case in point. Numerous sculptures were commissioned
to adorn the new development. Most were a dismal failure
with nary a thought to the surrounding aesthetic environment.
Art professionals around the city agree that more use should
have been made of professional curators to consolidate the
project. But one company that may have learnt a lesson from
that shemozzle is ConnectEast, the owner and operator of
EastLink, the nation’s biggest road project.
EastLink will connect the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne’s
east to the Frankston Freeway in the south and is due to
open in 2008. Amongst the attendant public art projects,
it has commissioned Callum Morton, fresh from the Venice
Biennial, to produce a major work.
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Morton, whose work tends towards a surreal and spooky
aesthetic, has designed a hotel to be built along the road.
“It is 20 metres high, 12 metres across and five metres deep,”
says Morton. “At approx three-quarters scale, it has 10 floors
and eight rooms per floor. It sits parallel to the freeway, has its
own side entrance and at night there is a sequence of lights
behind the windows that fade slowly over 12 hours. The lights
will indicate that the rooms are variously booked over this
period, from one room through to the entire hotel.
“The facade of the rooms is only visible on the roadside.
The backside is empty: a minimal monolith. I want it to look
60s modern. At the moment it is simply called Hotel, but
I am thinking to try and get one of the chain motels to put
their signs on it. I want it to appear ‘actual’ for a minute.”
Morton’s piece will clearly be site-specific, relating to the
nature of road travel and the oft-sought after haven of a
cheap hotel. For public sculpture, such direct references,
in terms of site, are all too rare. However, let us imagine some
possible commissions the City of Melbourne could make that
would reflect both the nature and history of the city and the
more vibrant nature of contemporary sculpture.
The Melbourne Zoo: Lisa Roet, who was the winner of
both the National Sculpture Prize at the National Gallery
of Australia in 2003 and The McClelland Contemporary
Given how many
sculptors there are
in Melbourne, the
city centre should
be abuzz with
challenging and
stunning works.
Sculpture Survey & McClelland Award in 2005, creates works
that are primarily concerned with the relationship between
us humans and our simian cousins. Her giant gorilla hands
would make the perfect entrance to the zoo.
Melbourne Cemetery: Sam Jinks’ compelling images of
mortality are haunting, respectful and strangely consoling,
reminding us that there is peace in passing. His work would
be a powerful monument to mourning.
The Fitzroy Gardens: An installation by Nick Mangan,
who has just returned from the Australia Council’s New York
studio. His surreal use of raw materials would be apt in the
natural environs of the park.
Melbourne Museum: Ben Armstrong will be the opening
show at the new Tolarno Galleries in Melbourne’s CBD. His
strange distended eyeballs could hint at the sense of surprise
to be experienced inside Melbourne’s museum.
Melbourne Market: Ricky Swallow wowed audiences at the
2004 Venice Biennial with his portrayal of his father’s spoils
from the sea in his sculpture Killing Time. What better sculptor
could adorn the entranceway to the market?
At present, contemporary sculpture is a rarity in Melbourne’s
CBD, but as the Eastlink project proves, the potential is there
to make a powerful statement via our rich array of young and
vibrant sculptors.
Picture Captions:
Previous page: Nick
Mangan, The Mutant
Message (2007) Mixed
media. Represented by
Sutton Gallery, Sydney.
Lisa Roet, Orangutan
Hands (2006) Bronze.
Represented by Karen
Woodbury Gallery,
Melbourne.
Sam Jinks, Still Life
(2007) Pieta, Mixed
media. Represented
by Boutwell Draper
Gallery in Sydney,
and Karen Woodbury
Gallery in Melbourne.
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