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   Emmanuel,  December 1968     Cross of Christ,  Easter 1969

Transformer: Fields of Change

A series of shaped painted objects that developed from the Armoured Car project. (Click HERE to visit the Virtual Wing of that vehicle).
In their own quickish way these objects formed a Missile Defence System for the Armoured Car.

These 3 dimensional works were part of a group which included works on paper (2D Transformers). This collection toured in 1989, titled   Transformer: Fields of Change,
and were exhibited in these venues:

Albury Art Centre (first exhibiting venue)
Ben Grady Gallery, Canberra,
Penrith Emu Plains Gallery,
Mildura Art Centre,
Benalla Regional Art Gallery,

Roz macAllan Gallery, Brisbane

Gallerie Dusseldorf, Perth,

To view the 2 Dimensional Transformers which accompanied the touring exhibition click HERE.

To read brief essays relating to these works visit the Library Wing.
To read the booklet that accompanied the touring exhibition;
click HERE

Gallerie Dusseldorf, Perth.

The works in this exhibition were freighted to Perth. Included was a group of large pencil and charcoal drawings on thin plasticised canvas sheet. The images on these sheets resembled projected images of the large Antipodean is. Several of the three-dimensional transformer objects were included in the installed exhibition. The spatial relationship between the flat drawings and the objects created their own tension.

The Proposals Series.

Dystopian maquettes

           Secret Landing Strip                     Solstice Atarpiece

Yellow Rocking Hill at Wilgie Mia (Western Australia)

Collection: Wagga Wagga Art Gallery

Title: Free Fall: Slow Motion

Material: aluminium, steel drum with gears, proximity sensor, PLC electronics, PIR sensors

Version 1: Collection Griffuth Regional Art Gallery
Version 2: possession, the artist

The ladder and the acrobat were commissioned by Albury Art Gallery for inclusion in a touring exhibition "Step Right Up", based on the FLying Fruit Fly Circus which was based in Albury.

Two versions of the ladder and acrobat were made. The first accompanied the touring show during the period   , then returned to Albury where it resided until donated to Griffith Regional Art Gallery in 2024.
The second version controlled the subtle actions of the figure to a finer degree. This version was powerful enough to hold the figure at its apogee, teetering at the top of the drum before collapsing to hang upside down like a bat; only to grindingly repeat the performance; slowly rising back to the top of the drum.

Both versions were motorised with gears and proximity sensors. Passive Infra Red (PIR) motion sensors detected the presence of a viewer which activated the action. A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) controlled the movement of the figure.

Title: the Ascent of Icarus: Slow Motion

Materials:  aluminium, huon  pine, fibreglass,
                 metal springs,  nylon rod
Dimensions: 500 x 150 x 100 cm
Date:           2010

The ladder structure is a device that I have often used in the past. More recently, two motorised, programmed and interactive ladders have been constructed each with a rotating drum & figure attached to it.  These have become “Free Fall: Slow Motion”.
In 1988, I constructed a series of works including a ladder that functioned as a wind vane.
The proposed work for WSU 2010 is a extension of this idea; with a spread-eagled figure positioned on the top of the ladder. This figure, like its predecessors on the earlier ladders is a miniature; caught in the existential dilemma.  It dreams of escape & continuing its journey upwards but is trapped by the situation to become a slave; swaying in response to the will of the wind. 

To view the catalugue entry to this exhibition please click HERE