Tony Davis, ‘Folly Interstice’, Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2020. Image supplied by the artist.
Sculpture by the Sea and the Bendat Family Foundation are pleased to announce the inaugural recipients of the Bendat Family Foundation WA Invited Artists Program: sculptors Olga Cironis, Tony Davis and R.M (Ron) Gomboc.
One of three inaugural recipients of the Program, a sculptor, painter, art teacher and fine wood craftsman, is Tony Davis, who this year joins the Decade Club, having exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe ten times. He has also exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 7 times and exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus in 2011.
Davis has created a 7 metre high Jarrah timber structure for Sculpture by Sea, Cottesloe 2020, which explores US artist Donald Judd’s assertion that “If it’s not functional, it must be art”.
On receiving the subsidy, Davis said: “I take great pride in receiving one of three Bendat Family Foundation Western Australian Invited Artist subsidies. The Bendat family are proud and generous West Australians, so I am most grateful for their support in creating my sculpture for this, my tenth Sculpture by the Sea at Cottesloe. Making freelance large outdoor sculptures, including materials, processes, freight, time and effort can be an expensive exercise, but motivated by the passion to contribute to an immensely popular and most significant cultural event like Sculpture by the Sea makes it all worth the effort.”
The two other recipients include award-winning, multidisciplinary artist Olga Cironis, whose works examine notions on belonging in 21st century cultural globalisation as a migrant woman born to refugee parents. Cironis exhibited in Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi in 2016 and has exhibited in Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 8 times since 2005.
R.M (Ron) Gomboc, an award-winning sculptor for over four decades who has exhibited at numerous shows overseas and represented Australia by invitation many times at international sculpture symposiums and exhibitions in Europe, New Caledonia, Japan, China, South Korea and Dubai. Gomboc is a member of the Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi Decade Club and has exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 16 times since 2005.
Sculpture by the Sea would like to thank The Bendat Family Foundation for its tremendous support of the exhibition.