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2016 BONDI CATALOGUE ESSAY: 20 years of Sculpture by the Sea

Posted: October 20, 2016 / Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essays, Essays

Written by Geoffrey Edwards, Former Director, Geelong Art Gallery and former Senior Curator of Sculpture, National Gallery of Victoria. Geoffrey Edwards reflects on Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi and Cottesloe in the past 20 years. “I don’t think there is a piece of solid sculpture among the exhibits, they are nearly all tenuous types of things.” A…


Bob Juniper 1929 – 2012

Posted: March 20, 2016 / Essays

Bob Juniper was one of the great Australian artists of his generation. Widely known and collected as a painter who was recognised as a Western Australian State Living Treasure in 1998, Bob was also an avid if sometimes frustrated sculptor who exhibited four times at Sculpture by the Sea in Perth and Sydney. Robert Litchfield…


2015 BONDI CATALOGUE ESSAY: Bequest Foot Forward

Posted: October 22, 2015 / Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essays, Essays

Written by Emeritus Professor Sasha Grishin AM, FAHA A short History of the Helen Lempriere Scholarships Helen Lempriere Scholarships were first awarded at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2010.  There are three scholarships given annually, one each – to an emerging, mid-career and senior sculptor – each worth $30,000 and designed to advance the sculptor’s…


The Japanese Artists in Sculpture by the Sea

Posted: March 6, 2015 / Essays

Written by Keizo Ushio, Artist Keizo Ushio reflects back to when he first exhibited in 2005 at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe. When I first stood on West Australian ground, I felt the endless potential of the expansive land, especially in comparison to the islands of Japan. The potential here comes not only from rich mineral…


2014 Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essay: Rayner Hoff 1894-1937: Sculptor by the Sea

Posted: October 23, 2014 / Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essays, Essays

Written by Deborah Beck, Lecturer and Historian, National Art School. In 1928 Marks Park was a public reserve – a scrubby headland with breathtaking views over the Tasman Sea. It was this isolated headland and its surrounding beaches that attracted the British sculptor Rayner Hoff, and five years after his arrival in Australia, he purchased a small…


Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 10 Years: an artist’s perspective

Posted: March 7, 2014 / Essays

Written by Jennifer Cochrane, Artist. Jennifer Cochrane shares her memories and thoughts on exhibiting at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe. Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe has come to be a significant event in my art practice. From the excitement of participating in the first show to the many times exhibiting since, it has given me…


2013 Bondi Catalogue Essay: Bert Flugelman AM (1923-2013)

Posted: October 24, 2013 / Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essays, Essays

Written by Peter Pinson. ‘I find it unrewarding to be consistent. The world is full of interesting, funny, excruciating things. My attention wanders. My appetites change.’ Bert Flugelman, 1967 At first glance, the six-decade sculptural career of Bert Flugelman seems to have  been adventurous, restless and diverse. Since the mid-1950s, Flugelman was always sharply aware of…


Sculpture in China

Posted: March 8, 2013 / Essays

Written by John McDonald, Art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald. John McDonald writes about the impact of contemporary sculpture within the Chinese culture to society in recent years. Today’s Chinese sculpture displays all the qualities that have made China into the contemporary art capital of the world – originality, energy and ambition. Many artists acquired…


2012 Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essay: An Introduction to Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2012, by Harry Nicolson

Posted: October 18, 2012 / Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essays, Essays

Written by Harry Nicolson, writer of the introduction for the first Sydney Biennale catalogue in 1973. Harry Nicolson gives an insight on the upcoming Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2012. We are pleased to have the writer of the introduction for the first Sydney Biennale catalogue in 1973, Harry Nicolson, write this years catalogue essay….


2011 Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essay: Sculpture by the Sea: the first fifteen years

Posted: March 1, 2012 / Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essays, Essays

This is an edited version of John McDonald’s essay in the 232 page book ‘Sculpture by the Sea: the first fifteen years’ David Handley, the founder of Sculpture by the Sea, recalls that the entire budget of the first Bondi exhibition in 1997 was $11,000, of which $8,500 was spent on artists’ awards. The show…


Sculpture by the Sea: A Brief History, fifteen years

Posted: November 3, 2011 / Essays

Written by John McDonald, Senior Art Critic, The Sydney Morning Herald. That first Sculpture by the Sea had an infectious energy, and was buoyed up by the kind of good will that is increasingly rare nowadays. John McDonald. This is an edited version of John McDonald’s essay in ‘Sculpture by the Sea: the first fifteen…


Anthony Caro Sculptor

Posted: March 4, 2011 / Essays

By Dr. Michael Hill, Author and Lecturer, National Art School, Sydney. Anthony Caro is the finest sculptor since David Smith (d.1965) and among the major artists of the modern era. In the 1960s he was a focus for theoretical debates concerning the nature of abstraction and indeed art in general; Michael Fried, for example, believed Caro…


2010 Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essay: A Robust Art

Posted: October 28, 2010 / Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essays, Essays

By Dr. Michael Hill Author and Lecturer, National Art School, Sydney A recurrent motif in discussions of sculpture over the last forty years has been a suspicion of object-based monumentality, in contrast to more process-orientated and relational work. Underlying this is an erosion of confidence in the very idea that something might be worth monumentalising….


Keizo Ushio celebrating his 20th exhibition in Australia

Posted: March 4, 2010 / Essays

By David Handley AM Founding Director, Sculpture by the Sea Keizo Ushio is an extraordinary sculptor and a wonderful person, whose sculptures (and smile) are loved in many countries around the world. This year’s Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe marks Keizo’s 20th exhibition in Australia, a milestone that happily coincides this month with the City…


2009 Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essay: From Bondi to Aarhus, Denmark

Posted: October 29, 2009 / Bondi Exhibition Catalogue Essays, Essays

By Ken Scarlett Curator and writer for Australian Sculpture In June, 2009 Sculpture by the Sea went international for the first time. The site of this new venture was Aarhus, a city three hours from Copenhagen, Denmark, where, with a shoreline encompassing sand, rocks, lawn and forest it made a superbly beautiful setting for the…