| Weeping Woman | Red Gum. Originally I tried to depict the complexity of money. One surface is quite plain, illustrating money as a trading commodity. On the opposite side (shown in picture) complex themes appear as money is used for murder and mahem. As the piece developed it morphed into a weeping woman. The rear view was still simple, representing the static presence of a hunched form. The other side represents to complex emotions and interrelationships of the individual in turmoil, the shape hinting at a female crying. |
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| Sunflower | Steel. I tried to capture the gaity of the flowers. The individual is dominated by the display and the overwhealming impact of colour. It's designed to be viewed up close. It's not subtle. It's in your face whether you look up or down. |
| Shafted Tear | Red Gum. Sainless Steel. When genuine emotions are expresed, there is always the chance that some insensitive prick will drive steel spikes into your exposed soul and out the other side. You may be held suspended. |
| Gymnist | Radiata Pine. When too much fertiliser is applied to pine trees in good site conditions occasionally a 'speed whorl' will develop, the trunk of the young tree kinking and sometimes making a complete circle. The wood used in this piece was speed whorl circle cut as a section from the tree by my son Andy. I was attempting to catch movement of a gymnist workiing on the floor |
| Look! | Eucalypt Branch. Somebody dumped this branch next to my house just when I was in the process of negotiating to purchase the view behind the statue. The view came attached to a house and 20 acres. The branch (with a bit of minor working) captured my rection to my first sight of the view. |
| Muntz's Scream | Coconut and driftwood. Both were found on a beach near Port Douglas. The face on the coconut reminded me of the famous painting. It hangs on a piece of cotton behind my computor screen in my office |
| Phallic Woman | Red Gum. I have always been interested in developing my womanly qualities but whenever I try to develop behaviours that are politically correct, my coarse male behaviours crash through and destroy any semblance of my sensitivity to female issues. |
| Female Male | Wood. Another reaction to my attempts to clothe myself as a sensitive bloke. Once again the male characteristics burst through dissipating any female sensibilities |
| Woman's Stretch | Japenese Cedar This is a sensuous timber to work with because of the look, smell and feel of the timber. I had lots of problems with a knot that I was trying to use as a belly button in the figure. In the end I thought 'to hell with it. It's too difficult,' so I made the knot into her fanny and changed the whole structure around it. At one stage the elevated arm was much longer but it fell over and broke off the upper arm above the elbow and I had to shorten the arm. I think it still works. I remember the act of creation as much as enjoy the product because the wood is such a joy to work. I originally planted the tree and recovered the timber after it got too big and I had to cut it down. Carol my wife also helped by acting as my model, but that was when I was focused on her navel. From start to finish, this piece is important not because its a work of art but because it returned so much joy for the effort. Priceless. |
| World Technology | Grevillea, Granite and Steel. The world, bound in technology flies through space. Unfortunately, the sculpture is housed on the verandah ready to fly of into the view (see Look!) but the dogs chewed off the ends of the wings and some of the base, solidly rooting the sculpture to the verandah. The cosmic experience will have to wait. |
| Yarraranges | Silk Painting. The work depicts the landscapes of the Upper Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges |
| Tourists | Wood. A group of tourists on a sight-seeing visit to the penguins at Phillip Island as seen by an observer as the bus passes. Most of the weary world-travellers are asleep, missing the sights but they will awake to snap the penguins who always perform on time. |
| Conquering Army | Acrylic on Paper. A legion of soldiers returns from a sacked city. |
| Spiderman | Paper Mache, Silk and Cotton. By recycling paper and introducing other elements such as cotton threads and torn-up silk paintings, interesting effects can be achieved and some control of content is possible as a new sheet of 'paper' is formed. My mind suggests the image is Spiderman. |
| World weary man | Paper Mache, Silk and Cotton. This image reminds me of a man with a large hooter. I'd like to meet him as he would have led an interesting life to have such features. |
| Red Kangaroo | Steel and Granite. This red kangaroo has a Joey in the pouch |
| Wood, Granite, Perspex. Holding the earth. I wanted to accentuate the global nature by slicing through the centre with the two segments joined visually by negative space. The impact is repeated by the minature earth replicated below. | |
| Echidna | Mallee Root. I just wanted to use the texture of the mallee root. |
| Jacky | Photographic collage. I tried to capture my eldest daughter as she progressed through adolescence. She hates it and won't have it in her house. I think it captured her spirit. |
| Water Gauge | Bicycle Wheel, float, rope, tennis ball. No, this isn't art. It's just the water gauge for my water tanks. I copied the idea from many water tanks around rural Victoria. It's simple, works and wonderful. |
| Dragonfly | Steel, Mirrors and wire. Even a dragon fly has its irritants and this one has an imp on its back directing its movements. The mirror eyes flash when the sun catches their reflection. |
| Dancer | Mallee Eucalypt. The dancer is about to pirouette. I tried to capture the energy and movement. |
| Crying 1 | Ink on Paper Self Portrait. My reaction to advice from a friend of long standing who informed me that I had yet to proove my friendship. This was somebody who had my unconditional love. I walked around dazed for weeks. I felt like crying as depicted in the picture but didn't. Originally the vivid tones of the ink seared my brain. Over time, the colour has faded to pastel and I guess that's OK too because the hurt has eased. |
| Crying 2 | Ink on Paper As above |
| Crying 3 | Ink on Paper As above |
| Funeral Piece | Steel Originally this was designed as a sculpture to decorate the grave of the mother of an acquaintance. One steel flower can catch rain for local birds. My acquaintance lost interest but I enjoy the quirky characteristics and jumble of styles. For a static piece, it's busy. |
| Golden Negative Space | Japanese Cedar (Cryptomaria japonica). This wood has a spicy odour and flows like golden honey. I was in a period where I was experimenting with negative space and the movement that could be achieved |
| Hard Life | Eucalypt, metal, stone and plant. The eucy grew in adverse circumstances and is scarred. The metal is rough cast steel reinforcing mesh. The stone is laterite and is shaped to form a bowl and only a small amount of soil and water is available for the Chain-of-Hearts that grows in it. I need to water and care for the plant regularly or it dies and requires replacement. It's there to remind me that some people have a rough time and require attention when they need it and not just when I'm available. |
| Duster | Hazel pomaderris and fox skin. In the Ash forests an understorey species (Hazel) sometimes gets entwined by a vine and before the Hazel is strangled the wood grows in the form of a snake. I have used the resultant wood to carve in the detail of a snake and used it as the handle of a duster, attaching a fox pelt instead of feathers. |
| Plays | Black and White Closet Species are a couple of plays. The first was very sexist, non-politically correst and single-dimensional. It was a French farce about management mixing up the male/femal signs on the work toilets, and the challenges facing the sexes when confronting urinals or the lack of them. I've always been anally-retentative. The second was very dark and dealt with a family over 60 years but compressed into half an hour where attributes were passed on from one generation to then next. The general theme for both was about classifying people. As Ray Lawler at MTC said after he tried for the umpteenth time to assist my playwriting, 'George, you have talent, but your writing is just too inaccessible.' I did have a playreading at MTC but Ray was right: I write more like Ionesco or Pinter and not like David Williamson. There's not much of a market for an Auzzie Ionesco even if my clock can strike fifteen times. |
