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Rocks holding up #14

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posted on 2025-04-01, 03:07 authored by SIMONE SLEESIMONE SLEE
Since the 20th century, and with the New Materialist turn, materials used within sculptural practice have been understood to have agency. Rocks holding up #14 extends an understanding of abfunctional material possibilities in an artwork through the synchronous engagement of Bluestone, (from the lands of the Eastern Maar) and glass. This work focusses on the potential uplift of the top rock by the blown glass and the air it contains. The form and assembly of the glass bubble and stone is determined with this intention in mind and in conjunction with the process of working in sync with the glass blowers while casting the hot blown glass, and in dialogue with the form of the bluestone rock. In Rocks holding up #14, it is the air articulated within the glass bubble that provides the acrobatic action of holding and suspending the precarious rock on top of the stone base upending expectations of what it is that holds things up.

History

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NTRO Output Type

  • Original Creative Work

NTRO Output Category

  • Original Creative Work : Visual artwork

Place

Collingwood, Australia

Venue

Sarah Scout Presents

NTRO Publisher

Sarah Scout Presents

Start Date

2024-04-17

End Date

2024-06-01

Medium

Bluestone (from the lands of the Eastern Maar) and glass

Research Statement

Since the 20th century, and with the New Materialist turn, materials used within sculptural practice have been understood to have agency. This sculptural work questions how the notion of abfunction (a neologism that identifies the move away from function in the outcomes and production of art), can invert expected material agency of glass, rock and air within sculptural practice. Rocks holding up #14 extends an understanding of abfunctional material possibilities in an artwork through the synchronous engagement of Bluestone, (from the lands of the Eastern Maar) and glass. This work focusses on the potential uplift of the top rock by the blown glass and the air it contains. The form and assembly of the glass bubble and stone is determined with this intention in mind and in conjunction with the process of working in sync with the glass blowers while casting the hot blown glass, and in dialogue with the form of the bluestone rock. In Rocks holding up #14, it is the air articulated within the glass bubble that provides the acrobatic action of holding and suspending the precarious rock on top of the stone base upending expectations of what it is that holds things up. This artwork was exhibited in the solo exhibition “Rocks holding up”, 2024 as the inaugural exhibition of the new space of the highly regarded commercial gallery, Sarah Scout Presents. The exhibition received a very favourable review by the well respected writer and academic Scott Robinson in the April edition of ArtsHub, one of the leading national arts bodies. The art work was subsequently acquired to a Melbourne private collector. Robinson Scott, “Rocks holding Up Sarah Scout Presents Exhibition Review”, Arts Hub. 29 April 2024, Accessed 16 January 2025. https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/exhibition-review-simone-slee-rocks-holding-up-sarah-scout-presents-2719765/

Size or Duration of Work

55 x 54 x 29 cm, 45 kg

Affiliation

Simone Slee, University of Melbourne

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