WORK IN WOOD, 2020©
Portraits in wood
The following sculptures are my impressions of some of my neighbours and fellow Croats: men and women that I see and socialise with when in Croatia. Admittedly in this case, I was inspired by the naive, sometimes called innocent art created during long winters by local artists that were real farmers and custodians of these lands. Seldom educated in visual arts, but with an extremely keen eye, a sense of form and a gift for story telling. My thanks would have to go to the likes of Ivan Generalić, Ivan Lacković-Croata, Mijo Kovačić, etc., often connected to the naive movement emanating from the area around the town of Hlebine in North East Croatia.
Goga: portrait inspired by our good friend and neighbour Gordana Fijan. Artist in her own right, she raises goats, chickens, horses, has two dogs, two cats and a huge vegetable garden.
Materials: Walnut, wood paint, stone pebbles, nails, shirt buttons, tinder fungus (fomes fomentarius) and roofing tar.
Size: 48 cm heigh.
Materials: Walnut, wood paint, stone pebbles, nails, shirt buttons, tinder fungus (fomes fomentarius) and roofing tar.
Size: 48 cm heigh.
Croatian Youth: loosely based on my cousin’s kids that look and act like any other young person from Australia to Zimbabwe. Proud, brash and sometimes rude, but deep down just young and full of beans.
Materials: Walnut, wood paint, stone pebbles, nails, shirt buttons and roofing tar.
Size: 43 cm heigh.
Materials: Walnut, wood paint, stone pebbles, nails, shirt buttons and roofing tar.
Size: 43 cm heigh.
John Wayne: impression of another neighbour – a fix-it guy we all call after his cowboy hero. A man of many trades but…He did quit smoking some time ago, but I gave him a cigarette anyway. It was only right. John Wayne, after all always had one in his teeth.
Materials: Walnut, wood paint, stone pebbles, nails, shirt buttons, kernels of corn and roofing tar.
Size: 36 cm heigh.
Materials: Walnut, wood paint, stone pebbles, nails, shirt buttons, kernels of corn and roofing tar.
Size: 36 cm heigh.
Vine Sculptures
The tendril vines of Atlantic Ivy, also known as Irish Ivy (Hedera helix hibernica) that grow from around the roots of my oaks and relentlessly wind around them, are source of material for my Vine Sculptures. As a host the oaks seemingly do not object to this invasion, relentless as it is. But I do…and that is how I started to appreciate this evergreen invasive weed as a source of “free” material for my new work. When cut at the base of the tree some vines are up to 6 to 8 centimetres in diameter and 7 to 8 metres in height covered with aerial rootlets that resemble rough fur by which means the vines cling to the substrate – in this case rough bark of the oaks. It takes a few summer months after they are cut for the vines to begin to dry and slowly release their unforgiving grip on the tree. At this point I climb the tree to start gently freeing the oaks from them, while preserving the curly shapes the vines take on. Thus begins the process of preparing the material I need for the finished sculptures. It continuous with painstakingly stripping all the bark that eventually reveals tenacious woody branches and the beginning of the final assembly.
Dancing Dragons
Materials: Irish Ivy vines taken from around oak trees, dried, stripped of bark, assembled and glued into shapes and finished with a coat of roofing tar.
Size: 180 cm X 80cm.
Materials: Irish Ivy vines taken from around oak trees, dried, stripped of bark, assembled and glued into shapes and finished with a coat of roofing tar.
Size: 180 cm X 80cm.
Dancing Dragons, detail.
Dancer
Materials: Irish Ivy vines taken from around oak trees, dried, stripped of bark and assembled with wire and wood glue into shape.
Size: 180cm X 110cm.
Materials: Irish Ivy vines taken from around oak trees, dried, stripped of bark and assembled with wire and wood glue into shape.
Size: 180cm X 110cm.
Dancer, detail.
Flowers for the President
Materials: Branches of Acacia, found clay vessel, roofing tar with a Travertine marble base .
Size: 1metre high.
Materials: Branches of Acacia, found clay vessel, roofing tar with a Travertine marble base .
Size: 1metre high.