Bondi

Collection of the artist

Exhibited: 2002, Sculpture By The Sea, Sydney. 2007, National Gallery of Victoria

Photograph by the artist (Bondi location), John Gollings (Studio)

Comments: First version of Awakening Desire #2. Only difference being that this original was in lead. Also, a steel hemisphere base was added for the National Gallery of Victoria exhibition.

To enquire about purchasing this work please contact Geoff

Awakening Desire #2 is part of a group of sculptures, engaged with a recurrent theme, that was begun in 1996 with a work of the same title. The works in this group explore issues of sexuality, referring to the metaphor of a shell found along any seashore, a flower in any garden, or a rock along any cliff face.

The investigation of this inferred sexuality is approached not only through the relationship of one form as it meets another, the rhythmical flow of shape, or even the intended precariousness of the upper element as it meets its tapered support but as much through surface. This surface, derived from aeroplane manufacturing techniques, echoes the often imperfect symmetry of shells, and invites closer inspection. As with a Seurat painting, the surface entices the viewer to assess it so minutely that, for a short while, the wholeness of the work is lost to the abstraction of its detail. The skin beckons the sensation of touch.

The placement of a work in the imposing setting of Werribee Park can be daunting. To compete with its scale, the artist can build a sculpture of grand proportions; however, my challenge was to intensify the viewers focus, by making a smaller and more intimate work that would be framed and cocooned by the vastness of its surroundings, and to imbue the work with a potency generated by the viewers intimacy and close connection.

Geoffrey Bartlett