In presenting to the community my rationale behind the recycled sculptural piece “The Guardian”, beginning with the briefing notes that this large-scale work was to use road infrastructure, that would otherwise be discarded which needed to be robust to be set in trees by the highway and to be highly visible in this location and also lit at night. I made the following address:
“The concept of creating cultural landscapes with selected items that would otherwise be relegated to the tip for landfill as waste or recycled, has preoccupied me for some time in my totemic works, installations and sculptures, as well as larger scale works for public places.
My totemic works represent my cultural landscape expression, an example being my winning piece for the 2000 Wynne prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales using found thongs.
The Story Bridge Art Project, will give me a unique opportunity to create a body of work for the city, which will further explore the sculptural possibilities of working with recycled materials. Materials for this project will be predominantly selected from redundant roadside infrastructure from the immediate vicinity of either end of the Story Bridge.
These materials would otherwise be thrown away or recycled. This palette of objects, culled from the location’s road works will be fused together to form a memorable totemic structure for the fascination of motorists and pedestrians. By using found objects left over from road construction I intend to inspire people to reflect on everyday functional objects in a new and creative way.
The object of my proposal is to create a durable sculptural installation, positioned within the city environment that will intrigue, inspire and act as a talking point for those who view it. I intend that the sculpture will be a welcome totemic structure for the local community to enjoy, as well as a contemporary artwork that will jolt the jaded motorist, so used to roadside advertising and traffic control signs, out of any visual complacency.
The construction of recycled objects, in conjunction with a concrete base plinth, is intended to last well into this century. However, my intention is that the sculpture will have the capacity to elegantly weather with the passage of time, without any threat to the safety of the structure.
The use of re-galvanized guard rails in this case will offer the site not only a work to the scale required in the brief for the project, but will also add an elegance to the site through the design I have in mind for the sculpture.
I believe this project will create a real opportunity for the local community to experience a sense of bonding with this artwork for a number of reasons: Feedback I have received from those involved in this project has lead me to believe, that the local community is relieved that a dangerous access is being worked into a much safer situation.
This artwork will serve as a creative reminder of the reconstruction and improvement of the road safety and accessibility for this community. The local community, by their own daily to-ins and fro-ins in and out of the area have long interacted with the elements that will make up this new art piece
I want the members of the local community as well as all who pass, to experience a sense of real interest, delight or at the very least, amusement on seeing the ‘boring’ and ‘functional’ objects of road infrastructure that they have subconsciously interacted with daily, recreated into a substantial art form – that they will now consciously acknowledge.
I believe that art in public spaces should be conceptually accessible. It is important that people find my work legible and understandable on different levels. My proposal will succeed on both the aesthetic and thematic levels. My work, based on previous responses from the public, will evoke reactions of curiosity, confrontation and amusement.
For people who walk, ride or drive by this space on a daily basis, it is possible that my installation will involve new discoveries at each passing, or at the very least arouse amusement, that such ordinary and functional items have been recreated into an artwork. By using recycled old road infrastructure from road works -the artwork will convey a subtle environmental message of re-use to those who view it.
Despite the use of strong, robust and long lasting materials reflecting and heralding the masculine nature of roads, bridges and city engineering, the totemic structure will have a tree like quality which will give it an interesting empathy with the landscaped environment.
My aim is that this piece will create a sense of community ownership, whether amused, grateful bewildered or confronted, most will appreciate that the towns engineers and planners have made a serious effort, to install artwork between a major thoroughfare and an inner city community. Similarly I am sure the local community will appreciate the artwork as its own by the very nature of its proximity to it and relate to its artistic and environmental message. This piece will act as a celebration of roads and the city infrastructures. Historically, public art has been employed to soften the ‘blow’ of a city’s infrastructure and the predominance of tough and durable structures and the masculine elements of engineering.
The intention, as I see it, of this totemic structure is not to try and soften any image of roads and traffic, but to bring it to an artistic conclusion, where the artwork meets the challenges of its surroundings, reinterpreting it and not trying to digress from the very nature of roads, traffic and engineering with a contrasting message.
By the very nature of the materials used, this artwork will convey its own unique sense of beauty, as well as a dramatic totemic message, engaging the elements of the roads and heralding the Story Bridge. As well, the structures’ tree like quality will create an empathy with the landscaped environment.
My design has come about after an intensive appraisal of the site through several visits, taking photographs of the site, reading a comprehensive briefing of the history of the site and project discussions with the design team’s representatives and finally choosing the various materials which are available to me from the site to work into this sculpture.
My proposed art piece will contribute to a humanizing of the streets-cape and roads-cape, adding variety, vitality and an important contemporary, environmental, educational and artistic message. While attracting attention, the sculpture will respect public safety, it will be accessible to the public for close viewing, and will not impede any normal pedestrian activity. The key themes underpinning the installation will be environment, conservation and place. These themes, given an edge by my own style and interpretation, will give the artwork its unique identity. Conceptually the installation will respond to the site’s traffic and its historic association with the Story Bridge: a link between two sides of a city. In a community like Kangaroo point, where its bridge and road link to the other side of the city deeply inform its identity, as much as the geographical positioning in the elbow of the river.
Rather than ignore the presence of the major road system as a necessity to modern day traffic and convenience, the proposed installation will resonate with a broad audience and celebrate this area as connecting the two shores of a major capital city. My challenge as an artist is to take found objects, which might on first meeting have no apparent dialogue and to work with them until they speak and tell their story.
Rarely are roads celebrated and this art piece will offer a unique opportunity for me to assemble roadside infrastructure into an important contemporary artistic statement.”
Having developed this kind of in-depth rationale in my presentation to the community it really wasn’t that surprising that I received their full support.
Since the sculpture has been in position, it has received wide praise by both the community and also the various media.
This particular work was featured in a virgin in-flight magazine for example and was brought to my attention by many people who saw it.
These are two of my favourite public art commission projects, because they were highly successful and immensely enjoyable throughout the whole process. I trust there will be more in the future like both of these talked about above.
