Sculpture by the Sea 2022 marks the return of the outdoor sculpture exhibition to Sydney’s shores for the first time since COVID-19 threw the world into chaos. Among the 108 works that comprise the Bondi to Tamarama instalment of Sculpture by the Sea, there are two works from French artists. There are also works from non-French artists, who have either had their works exhibited in or are held in private collections in France. Find out more about all of these artists and their works exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea 2022 below.
FRENCH ARTISTS AT SCULPTURE BY THE SEA 2022
Bruce Catalano
Benoit
EDITION OF 8
MATERIALS bronze
DIMENSIONS 310 x 120 x 120 cm
STATEMENT Benoit is an ambivalent sculpture within the Travellers series to which it belongs, because it stands at the cross roads of different temporal moments. The unbalanced posture, the particular momentum of movement and the loose fabric of the clothes indicate this man’s desire to live through the pressures of the modern world.
BIOGRAPHY Catalano encountered art and clay sculpture at age 30, through artists such as Rodin, Giacometti, César. He now devotes his life to sculpture. Catalano’s ‘Travellers’ are exhibited and represented in collections all over the world including Bartoux Galleries in Paris, New York, Singapore, Cannes and the Galerie Ravagnan in Venice, Italy.
CHRISTINE MADIES
FRANCE
Fragments of Continuity
MATERIALS arrabescato carrara marble, black granite
DIMENSIONS 50 x 200 x 50 cm
STATEMENT “A little foam, a candid event upon the dark of the sea,” wrote the French poet Paul Valéry. With this sculpture, the artist attempts to capture a tiny fragment of time – the moment of the breaking of the waves.
BIOGRAPHY Group exhibitions in China, England, France and Italy including National Museum of Fine Arts, Beijing 2001. Participated in symposiums in Sweden and Japan. Public collections in Italy, China, Japan, and France. Currently works in Italy and France. SxS Bondi 2019. SxS Cottesloe 2020, 2022.
ARTISTS WHOSE WORKS ARE HELD IN FRENCH COLLECTIONS OR WHO HAVE EXHIBITED IN FRANCE
SALLY KIDALL
NSW | ENGLAND
Bunker Down: Survival of the Fittest
MATERIALS plywood, timber, paint, nylon transparent fabric, printed sign
STATEMENT Stage-sets a surreal narrative reflecting on the ever-increasing symptoms of fear, dread and dispossession as humanity searches to escape the impacts of our rapidly changing world. This interactive work aims to engage the viewer via their imagination to visualise this luxurious subterraneous security bunker below, using the website images and property details by scanning the QR code. This work has been inspired by Bradley Garrett’s book, ‘Bunker, Building for the End of Time’. To see inside this safe and spacious home, go to: www.bunkerdown.info
BIOGRAPHY Sally Kidall completed her Master of Art at Portsmouth University, England in 2006. Her international practice spans over 35 years. Kidall travels extensively to create her large site-responsive environmental interventions within challenging locations and beyond the restraints of the gallery. She endeavours to inspire and challenge a wider audience.
FRENCH/ FRANCOPHHONE LINK: Exhibited in France as well as at Dak’ART OFF 22, Dakar, Senegal,
SCOTT CHASELING
NSW
Wanderer Above the Sea of Light
MATERIALS glass, corten steel, powder coated steel
DIMENSIONS 185 x 240 x 80 cm
STATEMENT This contemporary flat screen offers a fresh understanding of landscape, pixelated and distorted. The artist encourages the audience to walk around the sculpture, see the colours grow and shift lighter to fade away.
BIOGRAPHY Post Grad DIP Fine Art, Canberra School of Art, ANU 1991.
FRENCH/FRANCOPHONE LINK: Solo exhibition in Cite Gallery, Paris 1996 and held in collections at Sars-Poteries, France
MARGARET WORTH & YI CUI
SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND CHINA
Grafting Cultures
MATERIALS stone, steel, plastic
DIMENSIONS 220 x 200 x 150 cm
BIOGRAPHY
Cui: BFA (Sculpture) China Academy of Fine Art 2016. Exhibited in China, France, Germany, Italy. 3rd Citizen’s Choice Award Nanjing International Art Festival 2017. SxS Bondi 2017. SxS Cottesloe 2018 – 19. Both artists exhibited at Sculpture Encounters – Granite Island, SA, when Yi Cui billeted with Margaret Worth.
FRENCH/FRANCOPHONE LINK: Yi Cui Has exhibited in France
BO DROGA
NSW
Despair
EDITION OF 4
MATERIALS metal, woven cotton, rubber
DIMENSIONS 60 x 40 x 40 cm
STATEMENT This work epitomises the helplessness around Australia during the bushfires of 2019–20. Created using old, redundant fire equipment collected from fire stations, now entangled as a metaphor to describe Australians’ distress and the sense of a loss of control over the future.
BIOGRAPHY BVA Sculpture, RMIT 1998.
FRENCH/FRANCOPHONE LINK: Held in private collections in France
VOJTECH MICA
CZECH REPUBLIC
Phantoms of Corporality – Urban Islands
MATERIALS concrete
DIMENSIONS 165 x 110 x 130 cm 230 x 140 x 120 cm
STATEMENT Phantasmogorical figures of modern humans, standing in contrast with the history of the place they live in. These are our shadows.
BIOGRAPHY Academy of Fine Arts, Prague 1985-1992. Assistant Professor, Prague Academy of Fine Arts 1993-2015. Works predominantly in sculpture and monumental installations.
FRENCH/FRANCOPHONE LINK: Has exhibited at Germinations 7-Magasin, Grenoble, France
EGOR ZIGURA
UKRAINE
Colossus Holds Up the World
EDITION OF 5
MATERIALS bronze DIMENSIONS 280 x 75 x 85 cm
STATEMENT Our civilisation’s collapse might prove to be more cataclysmic than that of any ancient culture. We believe that we rule the world, but our society and our civilisation are not cohesive – they represent a fragile mechanism.
BIOGRAPHY MFA (Sculpture) National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine 2012.
FRENCH/FRANCOPHONE LINK: Has exhibited in France
NIKITA ZIGURA
UKRAINE
Global Warming
EDITION OF 3
MATERIALS aluminium, stainless steel, paint work
DIMENSIONS 320 x 210 x 150 cm
STATEMENT At present, the world is facing global warming. The changes are more prominent in some regions than others. They glow red on the weather maps of the world like hot zones of military conflicts. The two ripe white cherries play as an allegory to this theme.
BIOGRAPHY Post graduate degree National Academy of Fine Arts & Architecture, Kyiv 2012.
FRENCH/FRANCOPHONE LINK: Has exhibited in France, and is held in private collections, in France and Morocco.
KEY INFO FOR SCULPTURE BY THE SEA 2022
WHAT: The 24th edition of Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea outdoor sculpture exhibition
WHEN: Now until Monday 7 November 2022
WHERE: Along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk
HOW: Just show up
HOW MUCH: For the first time ever, the organisers of Sculpture by the Sea are requesting that attendees donate to contribute to the costs of mounting the exhibition. They request $5 per adult or $10 per family but you are of course free to donate more. You can donate directly through the app or via their website
MORE INFO: At the official website
Will you be attending Sculpture by the Sea 2022?
You may also like to read our interview with French artist Robin Godde who presented his work “Parenthèses” at Sculpture by the Sea in 2018.
