On a bright winter morning at Otomys, Joel Sorensen finished installing four of his sculptures. As the works settle in the strong sunlight we reflect on the various arrangements, how they create visual harmonies and rhythms and why non – representational forms lend themselves to variations on a theme.
After completing a Bachelor of Music playing Viola da Gamba in various ensembles, Joel eventually made sculpture his dominant mode of expression, finding solitary art making more suited to his temperament.
His recent works clearly take inspiration from the language of music as reflected in the titles: Duet, Quartet and Quintet all of which have interesting stories behind them that reveal more of Joel’s method and approach to materials:
“Within music there are distinctive elements that continually work together to create harmony and rhythm; different instruments combine to create one unique voice. This notion is reflected in works such as Quartet, in which four pieces of the same tree were carved and arranged in a particular way to create a visual harmony and rhythm. Different arrangements have the power to create different experiences”.
Quartet and Duet are elegant, non-representational forms that lend themselves to the interplay of shadows and light; though similar in texture and form, they are individual variations on a theme. How they interact with one another as a whole is the experience.
Carved from Sugar gum logs reclaimed from forest thinning where Joel and his partner Zoe walk in the Chewton Bushlands, these and other woods salvaged from the chipper such as Cypress, Walnut and Oak have opened up new artistic directions for Joel.
While the wood is still green Joel sets them up under the Oak Tree or in his studio at home and works the surface like a calligrapher - scribbling and carving with chainsaws and chisels until forms emerge. The surfaces are finished in various ways with charring, lime and milk washes, pigments, waxes, Stockholm Pine tar or in the case of Quintet, with painterly patinas that add yet another dimension to the work.
Standing over 3 meters tall, Quintet has a monumental quality, with bold combinations of yellow and grey paint variegated with russet parts that rhythmically link five distinct pieces of heavy wood into a composition that is a wholly powerful experience.
The genesis of Quintet and other works from the same wood - Valhalla and Saga - is dramatic like the Scandinavian myths they reference. One night in the Castlemaine Botanical gardens, a massive Cypress limb succumbed to the elements and crashed to the ground, a crack running the length of its body evidence of stress from drought, flood and wind.
The next morning Joel and Zoe made contact with the head gardener and these large pieces of wood were offered to them. When Summer was over, Joel started transforming them into various monumental sculptures.
What is often little known or considered about a finished piece is the network of connections that are made by the artist, often over a long period of time. For Joel, one of the formative moments for these works was over 10 years ago at GOMA in Brisbane when he saw for the first time Shigeo Toya’s grove of sculptures entitled Woods III, carved with a chainsaw and resembling old barnacled pylons dredged up from the ocean depths.
For Joel, sometimes a single tree trunk will inspire the variations on a theme; transforming something that has been made static like wood or clay, into a composition that is dynamic or ambiguous, figurative or non – representational. Painting wood or casting from clay to cement are transformative processes that give us a unique experience of how multiple forms can interact with one another as a rhythmic whole creating visual harmonies of great depth and presence.
To enquire about Joel's work please contact info@otomtys.com
