CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE/INSTALLA

TIONSContemporary artists or sculptors:• use traditional sculptural techniques of

carving, casting and constructing to create their three-dimensional objects

• challenge the idea of the permanent, precious art object.

INSTALLATIONS

• An installation is a method of display whereby objects are arranged for a particular space.

• One of the newer installation methods is the transient sculptural form.

• Transient sculptural forms must be documented because they do not last.

CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE/INSTALLATIONS

Callum Morton’s Habitat depictsthe following characteristics:

• a sculptural installation resembling a scaled-down architectural model

• added lights and sound, suggesting there are people within it

• reality versus illusion

• Postmodern aspects in its questioning of our values and the way we live

• a Postmodern appropriation of a modernist building.

Callum Morton, Habitat 2003Wood, acrylic paint, aluminium, sheet magnets, lights, sound

74 x 660 x 130 cmCourtesy the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE/INSTALLATIONS

Ricky Swallow’s sculpture KillingTime portrays the followingcharacteristics:

• a traditional carving technique in wood

• the illusion of reality

• themes of memory and time passing

• reference to past artworks and the traditional still-life subject.

In Swallow’s other works, there isreference to mass contemporaryculture (e.g. the computer, StarWars).

Ricky Swallow, Killing Time 2003-4Laminated jelutong, maple

108 x 184 x 118 cm (irregular)Art Gallery of New South Wales

© Ricky Swallow and Darren Knight Gallery

CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE/INSTALLATIONS

Hossein Valamanesh’s Untitled(1999), shows the followingcharacteristics:

• an example of the use of found objects in installations

• the suggestion of spirituality and the artist’s cultural background

• symbolism in the use of the candle and the branch

• the depiction of nature and self-identity as two concerns in the artist’s works.

Hossein Valamanesh, Untitled 1999Lavender bush, oil burner

80 x 58 x 82 cmCourtesy the artist and Sherman Galleries, Sydney

CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE/INSTALLATIONS

Mona Hatoum’s Untitled(Wheelchair) portrays thefollowing aspects:

• the altering of the purpose of the objects by the artist to suggest meaning

• using the objects as symbols of hostility, danger, oppression and anger

• linking the work to the artist’s own experience of displacement from Lebanon.

Mona Hatoum, Untitled (Wheelchair) 1998Stainless steel and rubber

97 x 59 x 84 cm© The artist. Photographer: Edward Woodman

Courtesy Jay Jopling/White Cube (London)

CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE/INSTALLATIONS

In Tim Silver’s Untitled (adrift), thefollowing aspects are portrayed:

• the artwork is no longer a permanent, precious object

• documentation of the artwork becomes essential

• the objects are transient — they melt, decay, are used up and transform their state

• the artwork links to the changing nature of our life and consumerism.

Tim Silver, Untitled (adrift) 2004Archival ink on archival watercolour paper

47 x 65 cm, Image 7/10Courtesy the artist and GRANTPIRRIE