SWELL SCULPTURE FESTIVAL 2018 CATALOGUE

The 2018 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/2018/09/swell-sculpture-festival-2018-artful.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 2018 below gives a brief commentary on each work.


SWELL CATALOGUE 2018

SWELL LIST 2018

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 Glen Manning & Cathy Daly, QLD    CONTINUUM

This frame is strangely albino by day, but colourful by night, in spite of the illustration in the catalogue. This confuses the observer who becomes distracted by the additional puzzle layered on to this enigmatic maze of pipes.

02 Dion Parker & Andrew Cullen, QLD    PRICKLES THE UNHUGALBE BEAR

(surely they meant UNHUGGABLE?)

One might have hoped the spelling could have been correct – or is this an artistic liberty? Apologies for not recognising this cleverness, but what does it mean? The concept is intellectual, and lacks cohesive strength in expression beyond its scale. The story of this barbed wire entanglement made into a teddy bear is cute, but it leaves one pondering rather than feeling, experiencing loss or concern about change.

03 Karl Myer, SA    FOCI

This is a most beautifully crafted work. It can be admired on many levels, other than the one described: a place of contemplation. It seems too worryingly saw-tooth for relaxed reverie. It is a shame because this work is convincing in its stamina. It could easily be seen holding pride of place in a corporate lobby, as a form inspired by nature. The lighting made the work that held strength by day, a wonder by night.

04 Nick Warfield, NSW    DINGO

A beautiful idea that struggles to embody its potential depth. It is difficult to express such intense sensibility with a careful clutter of pieces. Sadly, the lighting of this piece was truly terrible.

05 Elizabeth Poole, QLD    REBIRTH, BLOOMING YELLOW WAVE/MEDAL BLOOMS

It is difficult to get excited about an old, reworked idea that really does not have much prominence by day. It has some pretty shadows; and the night lighting of a few parts did have some interesting textures and colours. A ‘return to a celebration’ is difficult to achieve with the original energy and intensity.

06 Phillip & Alex Piperides, QLD    CURRUMBIN ROCK – BOY

At least this work had a simple and modest rationale. It looked wonderful on the rock, full of the interest and enthusiasm of youth. It truly captured the innocence of exploration – children playing on the beach on a day out from the suburbs of Brisbane. It is an experience understood by many. Sadly the black blob in the catalogue gives no true sense of what the work is. It is also a shame that sculpture 07 is projected over the same rock as thought the ‘boys’ were not there.

07 Glenn Barry & Brian Keayes, QLD    LIGHT ROCK

This is an interesting light work. It does change the emphasis of SWELL, making it a light display at night. The work is only a series of strange ‘T’ poles during the day. It rudely projects over sculpture 06, using the same rock. One might have thought that each work might have recognised the other, or have been separated. Still, it was one of the more intriguing works.

08 Stanislav Roudavoski, VIC    THE HEX

A beautiful work that leaves one wanting to look more. The mathematical form is beautiful, purely fractal. Was this piece too ephemeral to be a winner? Sadly, public expectations do have a role in the choice of the winner: it seems it has to be a ‘sculpture,’ and big, to match the prize: one, it seems, has to see ‘the value’ as a material thing. It is a shame that the piece was not regularly a part of the display. We saw it only by chance, once. It looked superb hanging in the evening light. (Apparently it was either too windy, or not windy enough for general display: is this a weakness?)

09 Allan Mourab & Clayton Blake, QLD    PERPETUAL CONSUMPTION

A great concept and image in the catalogue, but why is it just an arch on display? The idea is brilliant, but the essence seems to have been lost. Was this a structural problem? The clash makes an irrelevance out of thereferences, turning them into something adaptable, when the heart of art is necessity.

10 Jaco Roeloffs, QLD    SANDBERG

A nicely crafted work that seems over-worked as a concept. Why might a pile of sand ever refer to an iceberg? Are there really 81 facets? Does it matter? A photo of the sand on the sand, stacked as a complex of triangulated pieces making a pointy solid, seems more of an intellectual challenge than anything else.

11 Jo Elliott, NSW    WAR OF THE WORLDS

One needs to know more about plankton here to appreciate the skill of this piece that looks more like solid jellyfish. Reinforcing bar is difficult to transform into an elegant expression.

12 Wesley Harrop,SA    ZYGOMATICUS

Dimples may appear to be ‘a sign of beauty and innocence,’ but the making of dimples does not create these qualities, or the idea of ‘imperfections’ in such an arty, ‘lifebuoy’ resolution.

13 Kannithaly Ly, QLD    SANDY SUNDAYS

Some pretty ‘Victorian’ cloths on timber frames blowing nicely in the wind. Did the Gold Coast ever have bathing boxes like those on Melbourne beaches? This is news to me. It is difficult to experience the idea while looking at the work.

14 Antone Bruinsma, QLD    THE THREE GRACES

Is it too easy to carelessly say ‘The Three Disgraces’? They are certainly not this. One can appreciate the idea, but the experience becomes a struggle that has to give in too much to see the point. The work looks like uncomfortable seats, (hence the barrier?), but has a much richer message to convey. The pieces are beautifully made, but might have been better lying on, embedded in the sand, or being placed on a specially-designed, Aalto-esque podium: (I am thinking of his vase.)

15 Karl Chilcott, SWEDEN    NGARA TREE

A gold-painted trunk and stump - $15,000 – truly challenges the observer, even after having read the blurb. It is very unfortunate that the work was placed beside an actual dead stump, not painted. Was this terrible contrasting clash intended?

16 Jordan Azcune, QLD    SURRENDER (SAFEGUARD)

One might have hoped that the artist might have reviewed his artwork and surrendered. It is very difficult to become engaged in such literal stories and understandings, even though one can see the point. The complex structure does attract the eye, but is it because it might be too much of a puzzle?

17 Greg Quinton, NSW    JUMP

This is one work that has a surprising, a stunning latent energy. Was it too simple to be a winner; too small; too straightforward; too transparent? It really embodies a power and action that astonishes, and engages.

18 Kari, QLD with Ross Annels    SHEMPLE ON THE SHORE

Is the reference to a t‘emple’ on the ‘sh’ore? The catalogue shows it in the water and it looks much better here than on the sand. One has to look at Japanese temples to see how weak this work is, to sense potential it is lacking. Invented names really do not improve the ‘creativity’ of a piece.

19 John Fuller, QLD    WHAT ARE WE SINKING

Puns really do not work as art. What do you ‘sink’ about this? Do sinks work as seats, or is the concept merely a game, a visual pun? The set of ‘seats’ looked like a furniture showroom display rather than a considered sculptural group.

20 Tessa Bergen, QLD    THE CASTLE BUILDERS

The text is suggestive. Is one supposed to use the funnels to drizzle sand through them to build a sand castle? Maybe; but no one did! The shadows were interesting.

21 Cate Collopy, QLD    FANTASTIC PLASTIC – LAND, SEA, AND AIR PENETRATOR

Does this work glorify plastic waste just too much? The issue of pollution extremely serious; the work appears too playfully unconcerned with the issue, while using it as a beginning. Still, it is an interesting, coloured piece.

22 Melissa Spratt, QLD    RESURGENCE

This work seems to suffer from the apparent struggle to recreate a sketched concept in an actual work for display. It feels similarly awkward with its sense of meaning that is far too factual a reference, lacking any immediacy in its reading, its feeling. It transforms itself at night to give the catalogue image: the daylight appearance is difficultly dull.

23 Gordon Holden, QLD    WALTZING MATES

A strange mix of complex references: mates of different colour, size, gender, ethnicity are apparently waltzing, (note variation in height for rhythm to be seen from above), on a chequerboard that looks like a chess game, and chess pieces, a notion reinforced by the black-and-white ‘mates’ on ‘checks’: but it is not. It is difficult to move beyond the intellectualism of the work that has some pretty stone in it. Might it have been better to do one piece perfectly? Number rarely helps in any work unless there is a necessity for quantity.

24 Clayton Blake, QLD    TRAFFICKING (also 09)

Probably one of the best sculptural images on the site, but unfortunately it gets terribly confused with its references that offer a sad misfit to any serious understanding. Mr. Blake has a wonderful feel for sculptures of large scale. It is a true shame that the lighting did not use the marvellous reflective quality of the work discovered as the car lights swept across the sculpture.

25 Karl de Waal, QLD    WHEREVER YOU GO THERE YOU ARE

An enigmatic work that is not helped by its blurb.

26 Ryoko Kose, VIC    JUST KEEP GOING

It is difficult to interpret this work that appears so random, so ad hoc. The words ask so much of it that they baffle.

27 Monte Lupo, QLD    THE SEAMSTRESS

A narrative as a sculpture becomes a difficult beginning from which to create colour and form. The experience can so easily go astray as a reading of the intent, its confirmation.

28 Jack Quilter, NSW    PORTAL SUN. HARVEST STAR. SHADOW MOON

An interesting piece with some quirky parts that make a variety of pretty images. The idea of these being ‘in balance with the natural world’ remains a puzzle.

29 Abraham Tongia, QLD    SHE IS HIS & HE IS HERS

The surprise with this work was the scale and the materials. One had to look hard for the sacred reference. Promoting a work photographed from the ground when it is viewed from high above, seems tricky.

30 Ivan Lovett, QLD    YOU’RE TERRIBLE MURIEL

The galah appears somewhat awkward, too vertical, with an odd layering of its parts. It has a wonderful eye, but sadly lacks the integral expression of the wire works of other years.

31 Collaboration Joy Heylen, Luke Mallie,

Rhonda Sharpe, Jacqueline Damon,

Agata Mouasher, QLD    EMBRYO

Too many cooks? Perhaps the aside is too easy. The work seems to seek symbolism in the mechanics. Traditionally, as weft and warp, this makes sense, but the method alone was never enough to structure meaning. There was always more. But alas, the ‘woven’ image did not appear. Instead we have three large tyre shapes standing on the sand. What is the intention? Does it change? Embryo? This work leaves one astonished for the wrong reasons.

32 Thomas Reifferscheid, GERMANY    BLADE

An interesting ‘sabre’ work that holds a simplicity in its tension: that this material, that is so strong in compression, horizontally, might stand firmly vertically when so slim, surprises. The rough and the smooth are subtle, but the piece seems to seek too much meaning in its words, messages that are not immediately obvious in the work. Things get muddled.

33 Marie-France Rose, NSW    IN THE FLOW

All the parts of the story are there, but what do they communicate? Birds and window. One is left to fit everything together, as suggested.

34 Christopher Trotter, QLD    SONIC MARINE STRESS DETECTOR

An interesting piece with a simple, subtle wholeness. The whimsy is quaint, making it appear a somewhat less serious work. It has something of the Duchamp about it, but not the rich intensity.

35 Lance Seadon, NSW    SANCTUARY

The bamboo structure is impressive in scale but lacks the quality of a sanctuary. The space for gathering, sharing, reflecting, and resting is a tiny core, filled with a bundle of bamboo. There is hardly any space for the feet, let alone the idea of shelter. The outer spaces are even less inviting, causing one to hunch up.

36 Kirsten Baade, QLD    KALEIDOSCOPE

A lovely work that plays with the geometry of the mirrored hexagon. It is not a surprise, but is intriguing, as all kaleidoscopes are.

37 Dave Hicksen, NSW    52 WOMEN

This work comprises lots of interesting little pieces that are really hard to look at. Much is repeated. The subject is serious, but difficult to express by number alone. The work makes a great shadow.

38 Phillip Piperides, QLD    FACING EAST (also 06)

An elegant, formal work that does what the artist says, other than highlight ‘the connection between nature and oneself.’

06

36

02

05

07 (with 06)