Dimensions: Sculpture in Australia
Issue 13:2 | June 1993
Great collection of articles looking at the issues surrounding thinking and making in three dimensions -- Mildura, shamanism, New Guinea, Representation, Women and Sculpture, Regional achievers, Sculpture as satire, Aboriginal ceremony and much more. An essential issue for any one with an interest in 3D. Reviews
In this issue
Editor's Note: Sculpture
This special issue does not attempt to be a national survey of sculpture. It has focussed on various centres and given others less attention, partly to balance previous material in earlier issues of Artlink of which the following are notes by way of summary.
A Fact, A Question
Sculpture is not like painting because it is not flat and does not raise the question of mimesis in the same way. A theory of sculpture must therefore be, somewhere at its deep foundations, different from a theory of painting. Not just a bit different: a lot different.
Spatial Shamanism
It is a brief sober guide to certain spatial (and therefore sculptural) behaviours as initially identified and described by Bronte Edwards, Commander in Chief of the Art Army.
Mildura - The Watershed for Sculpture: 1975 Destablising Old Canons
...It was therefore inevitable that by 1975 Tom McCullough's Mildura Sculpturescape would attract an increasing number of artists doing installation, process, earth and other forms of art that emerged when sculpture, as it were, left the pedestal, moved around the room and went outside.
Mildura - The Watershed for Sculpture: An Enchanted Garden
1993 is the 20th annniversary of Sculpturscape '73 an outdoor exhibition that happened in Mildura, a small city on the Victorian side of the Murray River, distant from the state capitals of eastern Australia.
Mildura - The Watershed for Sculpture: McCullough and Performance
The Mildura Sculpture Triennials directed by Tom McCullough seemed the liveliest and most ennjoyable art events held anywhere in Australia...
Australian Humour in Sculpture
Does each country, race and cultural group have a particular sense of humour? And if so, is it possible to define their specific characteristics?
Sculpture Flourishes in Western Australia
This article is about sculpture in Western Australia and how efforts have been made in the recent past to establish the nature of its practice and the identity of its practitioners.
Women Sculptors - A New Bread
You could say that much of the most interesting and demanding artwork being done today is being done by women....There are many new languages in the work of contemporary women sculptors. Important overview of the Mildura Sculpture Triennials in terms of women's representation. Great photos!
Dimensions - Ground Painting in Papunya
Extensive examination of the women's ground painting created at Tandanya (National Aboriginal Cultural Centre) for the Adelaide Festival in 1990.
New Sculpture in Papua New Guinea
Re-evaluation of the current position of artworks from Papua New Guinea looking particularly at sculpture.
Dancing Sulka Masks
Examination of the role of dance masks in Papua New Guinea culture. The author was in the area to invite 2 Sulka men to Adelaide to dance hemlaut and susu masks at the Pacific Arts Symposium in April 1993. Coloured photos of the dance masks.
Richard Dunn: Beyond Dialectics
Minimalism is still misunderstood, not only because its manifestations are so various as to strain the word's usefulness as a blanket term, but more importantly because it stood at the confused fissure between modernism and post-modernism; from this stems the lively contradictory implications of Richard Dunn's art practice.
Places for Sculpture and Sculptors: Melbourne
With commissions over the past year at Southgate, the Great Southern Stand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Swanston Walk and others, Melbourne's image is undergoing change. Renowned for its Victorian buildings and innumerable memorial sculptures of kings, queens, politicians and military leaders, Melbourne is now seeing contemporary sculpture in unexpected places. (Ken Scarlett)
Places for Sculpture and Sculptors: Sydney
Tony Bond, artistic director of the recent Sydney Biennale suggests that since the staging of the first Biennale in 1973 sculpture and other three dimensional art have been actively promoted in Sydney.
Places for Sculpture and Sculptors: Perth
Gomboc Gallery and Sculpture Park is an inspiring example of vision and dedication to an artform within the private enterprise system.
In Landscapes and Parks: Lake Districts, Yorkshire, Otterlo
Looks at three locations Grizedale Forest (UK) Yorkshire Sculpture Park (UK) Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller of Otterlo (Netherlands) where one can experience sculpture within the landscape.
In Landscapes and Parks: Gasworks Park Melbourne
Looks at the 5 year sculpture development program at the Gasworks 3.46 hectares of open space in Melbourne - close to the city, accessible with strong community focus and an emphasis on contemporary art.
New Books on Richard Goodwin and Ari Purhonen
Review of new series of critical monographs
Edited by Christopher Allen
Ari Purhonen
Richard Goodwin
Australian Artists Series
Oliver Freeman Editions 1992
RRP $49.95
Ceremonial Work in Darwin
Darwin has a burgeoning arts community which produces a unique body of visual art related to festivals and events. Aboriginal culture and proximity to Asia and the Pacific have influenced the work being produced by these artists.
Pacific Arts Association Symposium
Conference review Pacific Arts Association
5th International Symposium
University of South Australia
Aboriginal and Torres Strait and Pacific Islander Visual Arts Week - Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Centre
Adelaide
12 -17 April 1993
Exhibitions for PAA
Written with Vincent Megaw Visual Arts Exhibitions and the Fifth Pacific Arts Association Symposium Great colour photos of works by indigenous Australians.
Locations
Exhibition review Location: Contemporary photo-based work from Australia University of South Australia Art Museum
4-27 March 1993
Gerry Wedd
Exhibition Review Scratch Works
By Gerry Wedd
Jam Factory Centre of Art and Design
February 1993
Bronwyn Platten and Cecelia Clarke
Exhibition review Possible Clouds: Bronwyn Platten and Cecelia Clarke Experimental Art Foundation
Adelaide South Australia
12 February - 14 March 1993
The Advantages of Isolation
Exhibition Review The Advantage of Isolation
Festival of Perth Artplace
Claremont Western Australia
28 January - 6 March 1993
and at the Blaxland Gallery
Sydney New South Wales
11 February - 7 March 1993
Carol Rudyard
Exhibition review Point of View: Carol Rudyard selected works 1968 -1992
Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery
Perth Western Australia
29 January - 28 March 1993
To the Surface
Exhibition Review To the Surface - Contemporary Landscape Plimsoll Gallery
Centre for the Arts Hobart Tasmania
10 - 24 January 1993
Curator Ray Arnold
Pat Brassington, Edward Colless, David McDowell
Exhibition review Book of Jonah 1932
Pat Brassington, Edward Colless, David McDowell
Private House, Mt Stuart, Hobart
May 1993
Craft in Society by Noris Loannou
Book Review Craft in Society: An Anthology of Perspectives Noris Ioannou (ed.)
Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1992
312 pp, RRP $24.95