The 2016 catalogue of the Swell Sculpture Festival held at Currumbin Beach, Queensland, Australia has been published here to illustrate the review and commentary of this event: see http://voussoirs.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/swell-sculpture-festival-2016-more-of.html
This allows all sculptures to be illustrated and all texts associated with each work to be included in order to cover the broad scope of this outdoor exhibition as compactly and completely as possible.
The SWELL LIST 2016 below gives a brief commentary on each work.
THE SWELL LIST 2016
Note:
The # tag represents those artists who exhibited in 2013: see -
http://voussoirs.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/swell-sculpture-festival-2013.html
The
* tag represents artists who exhibited in 2014: see -
http://voussoirs.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/swell-sculpture-festival-2014.html
The
^ tag represents artists who exhibited in 2015: see -
There are 14 out of 48, nearly one third, (c.f. 19
out of the 55, nearly one third in 2015, and 21 out of 66 in 2014),
who have submitted again this year. As was said in 2014: 'It is this
core of repeated style, even materials, that gives the 2015 festival
a feeling of the familiar that somewhat stifles one’s enthusiasm
for creativity, its discovery; its experience - surprise and
intrigue. One sees only variations of more of the same.' No more, or
any different words, need to be said in 2016.
Comments have been jotted down on each work by way
of a general overview, and to assist in the reassessment of the works
with time. One's opinions do change, but they need substance to
ponder, to assess and to challenge ideas and thoughts, to give
something tangible to stimulate debate. First thoughts can be wrong:
well, different to later ones; challenged by them, perhaps.
*#^01 Christopher Trotter Wheelie Hi Vis’ An
Industrial Life Saver
An interesting, subtle change in Trotter’s work.
This simple ‘lifebuoy’ presence ironically made of massive pipe
connections, quaintly plays with perceptions while carrying
ambivalent messages that concern.
02 Erica Gray Venemous Blue
A big bundle of markings on baggy forms that
remind of the octopus, but seem struggle to maintain this identity.
The sculpture seems happy to remain a deflated bundle of octopus-like
markings ready to be revitalised: was it ever inflated?
03 Tom Emmett Hang Ten [Love Isn’t Only A
Feeling]
Is this a bubble blower? One is reminded of the
ring that delights children as it is dipped into detergent and blown;
but the delight here is minimised, stylised. The reference to
landscape is tenuous, even if it the view through the loop that holds
a strange ‘dental’ quality about it.
04 Lisa Sorbie Martin Stillness In Time
This is an interesting piece, nicely made and
detailed. It gives beautiful shadows. The text seems to read more
into the work than one can appreciate or experience. Is it too
hopeful?
05 Andrew Cullen & Kara Vaughan Anti-dote
Wiry little creatures! Quaintly art? - but not
pompous.
06 Clayton Thompson Project Bread
It is always difficult to manage a political
statement with artworks that manipulate form and beauty, but this is
a good effort touching somewhat on Babylon. It is sad that this
wonderful idea demeans itself with its title and references. It
touches on Borobudur, and on the pyramids at Giza with its presence
and qualities, and other really strong geometrical ideas. It is
ingenious in its structure and assemblage. I see it as a possible
winner, but it seems to have denied itself this outcome with its
enigmatic ‘Bread’ politics. It is one of the few sculptures that
has a role in the landscape while maintaining an intimacy and
intrigue in its detail.
07 Joe Stark Swell’s Pumping
Jokey art stays more jokey than art. It is always
difficult to overcome the pun. This work struggles with this problem.
^08 Ben Carroll Nothnig But Time
This work reminds one of the carved aboriginal
poles at Kangaroo Point. Each work operates on a different level.
Here, the tiny pieces make the wholes that stand with a delightful
authority in the esplanade, as though made for it. The Gold Coast
City Council should purchase this and leave it here. It is a very
alluring work.
09 Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes
Muljana Bubble [Fountain Of Zero]
This piece seems to have been inspired by the
famous Kings Cross fountain that has been so successful as a civic
landmark. The artwork is nicely made but gets messy in the centre. It
is not clear whether the bulbs should have been in or out. The light
catches the cut plastic bottles very nicely.
10 Emma Anna AWES_ME
Plays on words, like puns, rarely transform
themselves into quality art. This piece suffers from this game, but
remains interesting because of its reference to another game, with
its pieces displayed with this change in scale. Unfortunately the
familiar feel of the pieces, their smooth precision, is lost up close
when one discovers the parts made of roughly cast concrete.
11 Vanessa Stanley Into The Daylight
A lovely surprising play of light that surprises,
but unfortunately it is somewhat like a circus fair game: the mirror
maze. It is difficult to take playful art seriously.
12 Sara Irannejad Multiverse
This delightful work intrigues. The stumps puzzle
from the distance, but the decoration on the surfaces of the cuts is
beautiful. One can sense the cultural references here: aboriginal
trees; Islamic decoration and markings. Maybe it should have been
called Markings after Dag Hammarskjöld little book and the United
Nations reference that it holds.
13 Antone Bruinsma Beach Blossom
Stone blossoms are always difficult to handle. The
stone here is very beautiful, nicely worked and finished.
Unfortunately, it is the flower that jars awkwardly both as a mass
and a colour.
*#^14 Greg Quinton Look From The Other Side
This piece has an inherent problem. It uses the
fair game model of ‘put your face here on the fat lady,’ e.g.,
and asks one to try to put oneself into the position of a refugee
child - ‘look form the other side,’ but what at? It is not funny;
nor is it artful: just extremely awkward. Its prettiness also belies,
belittles its serious intent.
15 Clare Urquhart Affordable Housing Initiative
Did this artist run out of time, or ideas? This
seemingly shabby, ad hoc outcome challenges one, not on the basis of
its title and any concerns that might come from this subject, but
with its apparent slap-happy quality that chucks a few blue tarps
around on a couple of sticks, stencils them and gives it a title and
an ‘arty’ price because of its unique claim to be ‘ART.’
16 Lynne Adams Save Our Seabed
This work is playfully creative and inventive. Its
political/environmental message can be sustained with this diversity
of plastic that keeps the interest and intrigue alive. The colour and
forms seem to overcome the weight of the issue with their presence.
^17 Dave Hickson Pigeons For Peace
The wooden image in the catalogue is far more
attractive than the metal forms one sees on the grass. One has to
struggle to see the ‘bird’ qualities in this welded weight. Wood
appears to have a greater affinity with the idea.
18 Holly Pepper Mourning The Reef
Sadness does not rise in the native experience of
this piece that is neat and precise, catching the light with
interesting flickers. One needs to understand the text to understand
the theme of the work and its issues. The piece has a lovely, beachy
translucence.
19 B J Price The Alpha Turtle
A big one! It is impressive. One does wonder about
such quality outcomes as this being on the merry-go-round of
exhibitions. Was it invited? Did it come as an exhibition piece or as
part of the festival seeking a prize? It is a very nice work with
wonderful patterns. One is still struggling to understand the
artist’s message in the pattern that is apparently there; but it is
nicely made and decorated: rather spectacular.
^20 Tessa Bergan The Wash
Puns do no hold power in art: artists should
recognise this. Puns can exist but never as the core of a work –
c.f. Antonio Gaudi’s works. Art needs other roots. That this
punning seeks greater depth than wash of water on the beach – first
fleet and wash away sins - only makes one cringe more. Why do artists
do this? What/where is the search for beauty/wonder?
21 Nick Warfield Gangarru
This is an astonishing work. It reminds one of an
early Chris Trotter in wood. The sculpture has all of the rigour and
energy of the animal in the choice of the parts that have a dual
presence – furniture and kangaroo.
*#^22 Daniel Clemmett Jobs, Growth And The
Anthropocene
Gosh, the technique is always taking over from the
message in this artist’s work, as one recalls that of other years.
One is puzzled by the words and the image. The work seems to lack
coherence. It appears to be a struggle for meaning in an ad hoc idea.
^23 Rebecca Cunningham Resonance
Brassy! A playful piece of ‘science.’ Some
visitors tried it out with mixed results. As a sculpture, one is left
looking and wondering – art or gadget?
*^24 Giuseppa Filardo Finders Keepers
Lost? Yes. Found? No – but one might guess the
idea. The big black ‘diamond’ that has been made so roughly
changes ideas and feelings about this piece; but the work does have a
lovely presence as pearls - too big to lose?
25 Katie & Derek Hooper With You
Is over-size a good enough variation to claim
‘art’? The text talks about its title, about ‘togetherness,’
but do two big chairs carry this sense? Maybe tiny might have been a
better, but less impressive way to touch tenderness.
^26 Wayne Markwort Lobster Claw Hand Boy
One struggles to see quality here. There is
something awkward in this work. Why lobster claws? Has the artist a
problem with hands? A ‘confused, detached and mutated figure’?
Has the theme been chosen to reflect the quality of the work, or vice
versa?
*^27 Dion Parker I Was Here
A pissing dog is playful, especially when under
the ‘NO DOG’ sign. The work has a sweet, compact and iconic
identity that gives it some special substance as an object.
28 Shelly Kelly Monacle
This simple piece struggles to overcome its
ordinariness in expressing what it is. The price-tag seems to hint at
some mystery as ‘art’ that one can never really touch or feel.
29 Karl de Waal The Lost Art Of The 20th
Century
?? What’s lost? Perhaps one’s tolerance is
tested rather than lost. It is really difficult to stretch the
experience beyond a few old boxes t’art’ed up. The tension leaves
one not questioning the contents of the boxes, but the content as
art.
*#^30 Mike Van Dam Life Is A Masquerade
One is familiar with the chain technique that
seems to take over and reference other expressions of other years.
These masks struggle to hold authority, although the decorated form
has a Venetian strength and identity that works well.
31 Kirsten Baade Swirls
One is reminded of Jean Nouvel’s Arab Institute
wall in Paris. This wall uses the camera iris as sun control. This
artwork on the beachfront adds colour and little vistas. It is
beautifully made and works well. The colour and movement intrigue,
opening up changing glimpses through little portholes.
32 James Worth Seafaring Voyager
An interesting piece of metal work that looks like
a twin seat. The words seem to unnecessarily force an idea.
33 Liesa Russell Cocoons
A beautifully made work with naturalistic
references that do not seem to challenge one to go beyond the
material and the technique.
34 Alex Polo & Michael Dowling Danicing In
The Sun
The cut-out technique has become so familiar that
one is left a little unsurprised, while always being impressed at how
well it works. One has seen it all before. Peter Cole used this idea
in the EXPO held in Brisbane in 1988. His work was relocated to the
Kangaroo Point Boardwalk along the Brisbane River some years after
the EXPO. This new artwork gives new stances on the beach. It
photographs well. It is a clever re-interpretation of the planar
silhouette model, with angles and folds in the steel sheet that
creates interesting and changes perceptions.
35 Indra Stephenson Mermaid
A very strange and enigmatic object – the
reversal of the mermaid? It looks poorly made and seems somewhat
drab.
36 Greg Windsor Lighfbooat
A wooden mass is supposed to ask the question:
‘What does it mean to value?’ One still does not know. The
mystery apparently remains in the artist’s head.
*#^37 Scott Maxwell Club House
Again, this work has the problem of art puns. It
was suggested before the title was known that it might be ‘Tee
House.’ Indeed it could be so; but what does one make of this
beyond the play on words and ideas - seeing golf clubs as a shed?
^38 Kris Martin Earth Being
The Buddha eyes suggest something else than
enclosure. A technically beautiful thing that is ‘eye-catching.’
39 Lauren Gray & Steven Hing Message In A
Bottle
A lovely piece of decorative bottle tops. The
message seems more about beauty and colour than environment.
*#^40 Monte Lupo Sandy The Dog Walker
This work feels like garden gnomes, plaster-cast
clichés. One grimaces at the dogs, their naive forms. The work is
neither playful nor serious; until a dog arrives and tries to join
the troupe!
41 Matthew Bird From Creek To Coast
Nice birds; not a really good seat. One could feel
threatened. It generates recollections of the rise of the Third
Reich: its re-birth?
42 Village Bike Gold Coast (Inc) Wind In The
Wheelos
This is a delightful piece of machinery doing more
than it seems to be engaged in. It attracts the eye with its ‘bikey’
detailing. A simple joy.
43 Alicia Lane Rainforest Remnants
These pieces are very pretty. They have a lovely
quality of seed pods. The copper is appropriate and works well with
the expression and their location. It will weather nicely.
44 Potts & Jim Blower The Rusty Plank
Rusty planks stay rusty planks. One struggles to
get joy from this large, rusty piece. The Beach Boys pun creates a
struggle.
45 Tim Elliot & Kate Millington Kingfisher
A big bird, but a sentinel? Kingfishers are not
beach birds. It is a beautifully made work.
46 Georgia Morgan Flow Of The Seafaring
An artful work that seems to leave one
appreciating the effort without knowing the reason why, or its
emotional references. John Betjeman once commented on his poems being
put to dance and music, saying: “I don’t know if it adds
anything, but I appreciate the effort.”
47 Oatricia Hoffie & David Sawtell Kyoto
Photocol Revenant
A lovely set of quirky silhouettes that appear to
have very little to do with climate change.
48 Glenn Barry & Neville Torrisheba Bujerum
Means Spirit In Yugembeh Language
Netting dreams – are the artists dreaming? It is
a great disappointment that the hill, its prominence, has not been
enhanced as an icon. One can talk about things being subtle,
discovered, etc., but it would have been wonderful to have had a
landmark for the festival. The event seems to lack presence this
year.
THE WINNER OF THE SWELL SCULPTURE AWARD 2016
