The good and seriously wacky of this year’s Sculpture by the Sea
By Linda Morris
In its 28 years, Sydney’s iconic Sculpture by the Sea has weathered king tides, wild winds and thunderous east coast lows.
This year, it has had to contend with a rock slide shutting down part of the 2km coastal walk, storms in China and India delaying freight passage of several sculptures, vigilant customs officers, and now tar balls on the beach.
Shen Lieyi’s winning work Tracing. Credit: Janie Barrett
Tamarama was closed and later reopened on Friday morning due to the discovery of the nuisance pollutants, washed ashore on the eve of the opening of the world’s largest annual, free-to-the-public, outdoor sculpture exhibition.
The event’s founding director David Handley says it will not affect Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea (SXS), which officially kicked off at midday.
But the sprint to install 100 works by 103 artists – some works are created in groups – from 16 countries has been especially dramatic this year.
In May, SXS lost four exhibition spots due to a rockfall on the northern side of Marks Park, part of Sculpture by the Sea’s dress circle location.
This year’s sculpture walk includes a showcase of 12 artworks from 10 Indian artists. Massive storms hit the ports of India’s west coast disrupting freight out of India for months with bottlenecks and delays.
Luckily, says Handley, some of the larger sculptures were made in Australia while others were air freighted with the help of donations.
But 15 works had been held up in customs, awaiting inspection, eight are still there with five of those being released on Friday and the rest likely to be installed by late next week.
Among those delayed is Clayton Blake’s Odyssey, a gleaming stainless-steel rocket ship the creator says is his tribute to human endeavour and travel. It’s bound to be a crowd-pleaser like previous Sculpture by the Sea hits: the melting Mr Whippy Truck, Hot with a Chance of a Late Storm, and Gillian and Marc’s bronze, Buried Hippo. Handley is waiting for more benign weather conditions before it is craned onto the south Bondi headland.
“The wind is a little stronger than we would like,” says Handley. “And there is potential rain and therefore lightning. We are watching to see if conditions change. At this stage, we hope it will go up Saturday.”
Ready to launch: Clayton Blake’s Odyssey.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Sculpture by the Sea winner
Chinese artist Shen Lieyi has become the first Asian sculptor to scoop Sculpture by the Sea’s $100,000 prize. Lieyi’s winning entry, Tracing, is an intriguing abstract work comprising an upturned tree root embedded in a slab of polished granite.
Lieyi plays with the metaphor of going against the flow or walking upstream.
“It’s been a real surprise that no artist from Asia has received the major award before, given the Japanese, Chinese and Korean artists who have in large numbers made it such an international exhibition,” Handley said.
“Lieyi’s work is structurally fascinating and brilliantly executed. The subtlety of the granite carving and uprooted tree holding itself up in the current of life is stunning.”
Skin cancer cover up
Andrew Hankin who brought the oversized Frying Pan in 2014, is back with a message about skin cancer. With two other creatives, Hankin has created The Spot, a black amorphous shape that grows in size and colour, just like a dangerous melanoma.
Toasted, by Sahara Novotna, is another reminder of the dangers of tanning. Three slices of bread are arrayed on the sand of Tamarama Beach in shades of light to black.
The Spot by A. Cooke, A. Hankin, and M. Aberline.Credit: Janie Barrett
Sharnana
Part shark, part banana, the Sharnana measures two metres long, a Dada-esque nonsensical beast made of recycled plastic, calcium carbonate, steel and acrylic paint.
The conflation of shark and banana makes no sense, but then again it’s not meant to.
“To stop, admire and question the reality of a shark coming out of a peeled banana is to question what it means to exist on a rock floating in space,” McDonald says in his artist statement.
Drew McDonald’s Sharnana.Credit: Janie Barrett
Haruyuki Uchida’s Shape of Water
Is it magic? “No it’s magnets,” says the renowned Japanese sculptor, explaining how his pillar of water sways with the wind. Encased in a stainless-steel jacket, Shape of Water is on a constant lean.
Gravitational force and the weight of the object is counterbalanced by opposing magnetic force in an artwork that is as much an artistic statement as an engineering feat. As fragile as it looks, it’s been built to withstand typhoon-level winds.
Sydney Sheila
Justene Williams is a celebrated name in the gallery world. For her first appearance at SXS, one of three recipients of the Helen Lempiere Scholarship, Williams has deconstructed the female form. Made of dense foam with oval mirrors, Sydney Sheila is painted with copious amounts of glitter bought from a $2 shop. “I’ve just kind of poured it on her so it looks a bit gross and showy,” she said.
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