public art

NERAM invited several artists, including Graham Kuo, Christopher Hodges, Denese Oates and Richard Goodwin, to participate in a Public Art Project employing as a backdrop the Art Museum and its bushland environs.

Outside the walls of the Art Museum, works created for the Public Art Project serve to augment significantly the important Collections housed inside the Art Museum.

They encourage people to come into its environment and become involved with art in both spaces. The artists commissioned for the new works are cognisant of the building's architectural spirit.

The brief was to develop an atmosphere of unity, integration and harmony between the external and internal spaces of the new Stage Two Developments. The artists were asked to explore the various inner and outer spaces which connect or are directed towards the Cafe at the west end of the extended NERAM building.

Still's designs were not only site specific, but the materials he employed echoed his vision to create a synergy of between the human made and the natural bush surrounds. The artists also realise the importance of their work within a precinct of a public facility. They are aware that their work can be a marker and a path finder for visitors.

Christopher Hodges has sited his stainless steel tower within the landscape at the elbow of the pathway leading down to the creek. The work identifies Hodges' development of totem-like constructions which both echoes the body and in some way reconciles a position in relation to indigenous art, with which he has a growing involvement.

Denese Oates has chosen the pivotal edge of the court and its powerful plinth as a site. This work engages the structure of the court and its surrounding tiered seats in a dance with the figure. Three figure motifs in steel tattoo the surface of the plinth with imagery that is particular to the artist and appropriate to the performance of people in this art space.

Richard Goodwin has chosen the building itself as the site for his exoskeletal structure. Building on a series of unfinished actions on the building and a need for shade and cool, Goodwin has built a skeletal structure cantilevered in space to brace and receive shade cloth. The structure sprays water onto the pavement which will be dammed at the landscape edge. This water is filtered and circulated to form a shallow pond which reflects the beautiful surrounding landscape. The final parasitic structure brings shade, cool via evaporation and reflection to the courtyard precinct. The aim has been for each artist to be responsible for their own sphere of experience, expression and location, but the project is seen as a holistic statement. More sculpture and outside public art is planned and plays an important role in NERAM's ongoing developments and policies.

Richard Goodwin originally trained as an architect and has been exhibiting in Australia and overseas for twenty years. Since 1985 he has expanded his art practice into the area of civic commissions. Goodwin has had extensive experience in the aesthetic softening of brute materials.

Christopher Hodges has been exhibiting since 1978 and his work is represented in numerous collections throughout Australia. His work encompasses both painting and sculpture and he has recently been involved in several public space commissions. Hodges, like Denese Oates, is exploring the relationship between people inside a structure and people outside in the landscape.

Denese Oates has been exhibiting since 1979. The years between 1983 and 1993 were marked by extensive travels throughout the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. The materials of Oates' sculptural work span from papers to metals. She was directed towards the terraced arcs which struck her as having the effect of a "shooting range". She is interested in bringing a human element to the space with metallic figures.

Graham Kuo was commissioned as part of the overall project to create a painting in The Cafe to work with the outside sculptures. He began exhibiting in 1973 and has travelled extensivel;y including Europe and USA. As an abstract expressionist, Kuo draws upon the calligraphic traditions of his Chinese heritage and creates lyrical. emotive and expressive canvases.