Neil Roberts Chances with Glass
Neil Roberts (1954 – 2002) trained as a glassblower in the early 1980s but quickly evolved his practice to sculpture, often combining glass with other materials. He was fascinated with the vulnerable quality of glass and frequently invited fracture and repair into his processes of making. This exhibition focuses on Roberts’ interest in arenas of masculinity such as the boxing ring, gymnasium, farmyard and urban gangland. The tension between violence and tenderness he observed in such arenas found expression through his chancy collaborations with the glass medium.
Neil Roberts (1954 – 2002) trained as a glassblower in the early 1980s but quickly evolved his practice to sculpture, often combining glass with other materials. He was fascinated with the vulnerable quality of glass and frequently invited fracture and repair into his processes of making. This exhibition focuses on Roberts’ interest in arenas of masculinity such as the boxing ring, gymnasium, farmyard and urban gangland. The tension between violence and tenderness he observed in such arenas found expression through his chancy collaborations with the glass medium.
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Biographies<br />
Barbara Campbell is an Australian artist based in Sydney. She is well-known<br />
for her research-led performances using different platforms (live, online,<br />
broadcast, video and photographic) in diverse museum, gallery and public spaces<br />
in Australia, Europe, USA and East Asia. Barbara is probably best known for<br />
her durational performance work 1001 nights cast, (2005-2008) in which she<br />
collaborated <strong>with</strong> writer-artists across the globe, webcasting a story live each night<br />
on the internet for 1001 consecutive nights. The stories are archived in written form<br />
at 1001.net.au. In 2016 she was awarded her PhD from the University of Sydney:<br />
a practice-led doctorate researching how migratory shorebirds direct human<br />
performance.<br />
In 1999 Barbara married <strong>Neil</strong> <strong>Roberts</strong> and moved to Queanbeyan to reside in the<br />
former factory-cum-studio that <strong>Neil</strong> had called home since 1986. As well as making his<br />
own work <strong>Neil</strong> ran an artists’ project space, Galerie Constantinople out of the factory,<br />
and an occasional press, Multiple Constantinople. When <strong>Neil</strong> tragically died in 2002,<br />
Barbara stayed on in Queanbeyan to secure the Estate holdings and, <strong>with</strong> the assistance<br />
of Merryn Gates, Services for Art, she published an online catalogue raisonné,<br />
neilroberts.com.au. She returned to Sydney in 2005. Barbara continues to manage<br />
the <strong>Neil</strong> <strong>Roberts</strong> Estate and website. <strong>Neil</strong>’s archives are held by the National Gallery of<br />
Australia research library. Helen Maxwell Art is the commercial agent for the Estate.<br />
1<br />
<strong>Neil</strong> <strong>Roberts</strong>, “One Man’s Eyes: Arenas,” Age Monthly Review 9, no.<br />
11 (1990), 6.<br />
2<br />
Marcel Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even<br />
(also known as The Large <strong>Glass</strong>), 1915–23 was famously broken in<br />
transit after its first showing in 1926 and then repaired by Duchamp.<br />
The cracks are clearly visible in both the top and bottom halves of<br />
the work. Man Ray’s 1920 photograph, Dust Breeding is a document<br />
of The Large <strong>Glass</strong> as it lay gathering dust for a year on the floor of<br />
Man Ray’s studio. Dust is one of the listed media of The Large <strong>Glass</strong><br />
along <strong>with</strong> oil, varnish, lead foil, lead wire on two glass panels.<br />
3<br />
Original Raymond Pettibon reference unknown. Pettibon (b. 1957)<br />
is well-known for his graphic interplay between words and images.<br />
4<br />
<strong>Neil</strong> <strong>Roberts</strong> and Elena Taylor, National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition<br />
catalogue (Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2001), 80.<br />
5<br />
Things in the State of Belonging is the title of a 1993 work last shown<br />
<strong>with</strong> Show (One Man’s Toil) in <strong>Neil</strong>’s 2001 survey exhibition, The<br />
Collected Works of <strong>Neil</strong> <strong>Roberts</strong> at Canberra School of Art Gallery,<br />
curated by Merryn Gates.<br />
All artworks by <strong>Neil</strong> <strong>Roberts</strong> and writings referred to in this essay can<br />
be found online at neilroberts.com.au.<br />
NEIL ROBERTS CHANCES WITH GLASS | 17 AUGUST TO 15 OCTOBER 2017
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