Location: Alpine Ash Walk, Sculpture Forest
Artist Statement: This work continues a series of sculptures that use the figure of a horse to metaphorically express aspects of the human condition. The horse is a universal and recognisable subject. It is symbolic of strength, balance and grace but also of a free spirit. This horse’s broken chains express the idea of liberty from subjugation and enslavement. ‘Borderlands’ suggests a frontier, the point beyond which one has never travelled, evocative of difficult terrain and the unexplored.
Biography: Andrew Townsend and Suzie Bleach collaborate to make sculptures and installations often featuring familiar animal subjects to explore aspects of the human condition. They are represented in private and public collection including ACT Government, Newcastle Museum, Mirvac, City of Willoughby, City of Goulburn, Wangarrata art gallery and the Balnaves Foundation. Other major exhibitions include CCAS, Canberra 2020, CMAG, Canberra 2012 and Ivy Hill Gallery Wapengo 2011.
Recipients of the Allens People’s Choice Award at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2011 and Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2016. Townsend and Bleach have exhibited together at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi six times since 2000, Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe two times since 2010 and Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus-Denmark in 2011. Other major exhibitions include ‘What Lies Beneath’ CMAG, Canberra 2012 and at Ivy Hill Gallery, NSW in 2011.
Stage one of the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail was jointly funded by the Australian and NSW Government’s Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund, under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
