Continuum
reflects the themes of people and community. The sculpture follows a
recent direction in the artist's work using the figure as a structural
element and allowing the properties of the drawing of each of the figures
to create a sense of community cohesion and well-being.
Continuum is about the climb of life and our aspirations.
We
can, after all, afford to aspire, in the effort and strain there is
ease and humanity, life and pleasure. Reaching up is not inevitability
flawed. We lift each other. We stride ahead and fall behind, and all of
it is all of everything we are.
We
can, in the quest, conceive a level playing field and know the height
is more of a mirage. With the view we see the world is flat.
The
figures in Continuum are mostly separately identified. From nearby and
underneath, we see the features; the rise and fall of flesh and muscle
strain. Hair and face, brushing past and brushed aside.
From further off, the figures give way to a community. The huddle succumbs to rhythm's brace.
As
we walk past or drive, the shapes move past each other and interact
again. Seen through the figures is a flicker of water on the bay.
In
this sculpture, the figure forms a structural element and the
properties of the figures create a sense of community, cooperation and
well-being. They configure in no specific relationship with gravity or
the ground but are not wandering without purpose or intent. They are
employed in various uman activities such as lying down or walking,
talking together, moving to a particular place or to nowhere in
particular.
There
is no sense intended of an 'ideal' vertical aspiration or any
philosophical position other than to reflect a broad human condition of
being alive.
The
figures are not unified by race, age or issue and are not overtly
fighting or loving. They are not bound by ideology or religion. There is
a sense of happy emptiness, tranquility and even silence. There is an
ease of being together without condition or expectation. There qualities
have created the shapes of the figures which can be viewed with a clear
uninterrupted backdrop but also work when they are back-dropped by
other cut-outs. This produces a meshing and density. The eye is invited
to work, to disentangle the shapes to find the image or figure. The
meshing can be parted, by walking between the two halves. Like a puzzle
we compare them.
The
work can be enjoyed at a distance and up close. You can enter it. It is
large enough to have impact in relation to the scale of the surrounding
architecture. It will hold the intersection and will function as a
marler and meeting place.
Michael Snape 2005
Melbourne Docklands, Victoria
