Morgan Shimeld Featured in The Australian Financial Review.
"Why You Should Take A Closer Look At This Australian Sculptor's Work" - Stephen Todd, Designer Editor at The Australian Financial Review.
Morgan Shimeld’s angular bronze shapes appear brutalist, at first sight. Study them awhile, however, and you’ll see something quite different.
The sleek angularity of his freestanding and wall-mounted pieces, crafted from sheets of precious bronze, appear to riff off architecture if anything; the sheer planes and robust angles redolent of 20th century brutalist buildings.
And yet, look again, and there they are, the precipitous cliff faces and rugged escarpments of the famous eucalyptus-hazed ranges west of Sydney.
“I was born in Katoomba,” explains the artist, referring to the mountain township in NSW that’s renowned for the towering Three Sisters rock formations. “This remarkable natural environment deeply affects my way of looking at the world.”
In his studio on the edge of the 1.03-million hectare Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage national park, Shimeld begins by giving form to his mind’s imaginings, gradually building up blocks of polystyrene. Once content with the way they convey his natural surroundings, filtered through a modernist prism, he starts shaping sheets of bronze, which he welds into final formation.
These he then gives a patina with various chemical baths, allowing some to oxidise; others he applies a matte wax to, creating a deep, richly hued marbling effect.
“Bronze has such a warmth to it, and of course is a noble material with deep historical roots in art,” he says.
August 28, 2024
