Mr & Mrs Monaro, Chris Graham
Keeping close in subject - my arbitrary subtopic of "metal sculptures made by (mostly) professional artists" I now direct my attention to the sculpture garden at the Raglan Gallery and Cultural centre. This garden area has been landscaped to display sculptures from the gallery's collection. The gallery is found at 9-11 Lambie St Cooma and is open 10-4 Wednesdays to Sundays (check with local visitors centre). Gold coin donation to enter. Changing exhibitions of local and regional art, gifts etc.The first photo shows Mr and Mrs Monaro by Chris Graham (see Nanny Goat, 3rd post in this series), a witty construction of scrap metal; a portrait of a typically rural couple. Its current position partly in front of a wall but partly clashing with the verticals of the fence above does not display it well. Previously it was located in front of the gallery, visible from the street; and despite the busy garden background it was more easily seen there. This display location is particularly insensitive, cutting the sculpture in half and making it impossible to view from any other angle.
Black cockatoos. (details needed)
Branch. (details needed)
Scorpion. (details needed)
The rear garden area contains a variety of sculptures. The three above work well in their settings, despite being photographed on a very grey day in the middle of winter.
The busy backgroud obscures this one, which until I research the artist and title details I am calling Thor.
I'm not sure whether all the barbed-wire sphere sculptures around this area are by the same artist. The rust becomes it, but time has squashed this sphere out of shape - unless it's deliberate. The collection of dead leaves within works well in the photo, but is not attractive in real life.
The front garden of the gallery also accommodates several sculptures, all made by Jesse Graham, who is the son of Chris Graham. His mother Jackie Gorring is also a professional artist as is his sister Minna Graham.
Tapping into the local mania for horses. This colt has a pleasing appearance of movement. Life sized.
Sea horses. A kind of horse.
This one is life sized if seahorses are 2.5m tall - the scale, orders of magnitude larger than the actual creatures, gives this sculpture drama and the viewer a new way of considering the subject. I think this sculpture is graceful and emotionally effective, and I like the way the grilles of the metal fins interact with the vegetative background of the setting. Similarly to my remark on the plinth of Rix Wright's Shearer in the second episode of this series, I find the cement pad on which this is mounted displeasing. Some turf over it would present the sculpture better.
When I expressed the opinion that this one is silly my respondent said they liked it because it is fun,
so I allow the existence of different opinions - however I'm not changing mine. Life sized. Rivetted and welded steel.
A nice idea and to a certain extent still in development, the sculpture garden seems aspirational to me. It would like to be more than it is. The quality of the works is mixed. However it taps into the very popular "Sculpture by the ---" phenomenon, allowing visitors to enjoy art in that non-threatening way that sculpture with a community background can provide. Sculpture in this sort of setting is an interesting subject. The physical demands of size, materials and locations necessitate a degree of technical skill that is not called for in other media; for instance, a high degree of technical skill is called for in modelling any life-sized horse, let alone one standing on one foreleg on a daisy - no matter what bloggers like me might think of the silliness of the subject matter.
Any implied criticisms of this sculpture garden must be read with the knowledge that the Raglan Gallery and Cultural Centre is run by volunteers with some input from the local council, and on a very small budget and that no unkindness is meant. I congratulate the gallery on its contribution to the community, and its long history of giving the region a quality art venue.
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