Location: Adelong Creek Walk, Adelong.
Artist Statement: The title is references the separation of oppositional forces and the sliding apart of the semi hemispherical elements. The name occurred to me when a friend was looking at the sculpture and said it was like the state of the world at that time during the Iraq War and post 9/11.
Biography: Michael Le Grand has worked in steel since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1974. The recipient of an Australia Council Travel Grant in 1975, he furthered his studies at St Martin’s School of Art, London, and on returning to Australia, was awarded an Australian National University Creative Arts Fellowship in 1978.
He is represented in collections including Parliament House ACT, ANU Pt Leo Estate and ACT Government Public Art Program. He exhibited in the McClelland Sculpture Survey four times between 2003-2012 and was a recipient of the Helen Lempriere Scholarship at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi in 2010.
In 2011, Canberra Museum and Art Gallery exhibited a major survey of Michael’s sculpture, and was also awarded the Canberra Critics Circle, City News Artist of the Year. He has exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 19 times since 1997, Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 15 times since 2005 and Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus in 2009 and 2011 and Sculpture at Barangaroo in 2017.
In 1980, Le Grand began teaching at the Canberra School of Art and in 2007, he retired an Emeritus Fellow from his position as Head of Sculpture, within the School of Art, Australian National University, to concentrate on his own art practice. Michael continues to exhibit in both solo and major sculpture exhibitions and is represented in private collections and public commissions both in Australia and internationally.
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.