Portfolio of sculptural works: Cascade (for Louise Nevelson); Sculpture with wall & aperture; and Proposal for a method of making relief sculpture using scavenged and discarded objects

Background: This research expands from using scavenged materials for sculptural purposes as exemplified by the artist Louise Nevelson (1899 – 1988). Recent reconsiderations of Nevelson’s methods include Gothic Modernism (Siegel 2017); 2022 Venice Biennale. Currently the Tate Gallery pairs Nevelson with a contemporary artist “to explore ideas of recycling and regeneration.” (Louise Nevelson & Leonardo Drew in ‘Materials and Objects’) explicitly presenting Nevelson’s scavenging methods as important contexts for contemporary sculptural experiments. My research asks how Nevelson's methods continue to be functional in 21st-century practice via 3 iterations further exploring possibilities for sculpture in relation to this art historical context. Contribution: The 3 works present different ways of encountering sculptures: as a mobile object; as an image; as low relief. ‘Cascade (for Louise Nevelson)’ is a mobile object that can be wheeled to an exhibition site; ‘Sculpture with wall & aperture’ presents sculpture as a 2-dimensional image; ‘Proposal for a method of making relief sculpture using scavenged and discarded objects’ synthesises these object and image dynamics into a low relief situated somewhere between object and image. All 3 are made from scavenged objects and echo Nevelson in physical forms such as coherence of colours. Significance: The 3 works are linked sculptural responses to 3 contexts/locations that I was selected to exhibit in: ‘A sky the colour of a dead channel’ at Brunswick Contemporary (curator - Ingmar Apinis); ‘The Origin of Origins’ at Fitzroy Gardens Pavilion (curators - Dr, Benjamin Sheppard and Peter Burke/The Bureau of Organisation of Origins); peer selected competition The Merri-bek Summer Show at the Counihan Gallery. These spaces are important alternatives to more institutionalised contexts. They create lateral connections instead of hierarchical structures.