Sculpture Stories
I have been researching sculptures in public spaces around the city of Adelaide, through my urban sketching practice and archival research. I have since been inspired to make a few small sculptures of my own .
I am most interested in the modernist period of sculpture in the latter half of last century (1960's to 1990's) when large abstract forms started to appear on Adelaide streets. Here is a summary of my research on the following sculptures in Adelaide:
Immortal Warrior by Norma Redpath (1963)
Sculpture No. 714 by Robert Klippel (1990)
Untitled by Margel Hinder (1972)
Tetrahydrons, by Bert Flugelman (1974)
These sculptures were made during a period of significant social change. In each case the sculptures were installed as part of a major public building project, thereby linking the art as a change agent alongside urban development. The abstract forms of these sculptures would have been completely foreign at the time and were probably incomprehensible to many people - perhaps they still are. The public value of these sculptures is in their freedom of individual expression as art works - unconstrained by design specifications. These art works engage curiousity, and can now be enjoyed as modernist heritage artefacts in the evolving city scape.