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This series of sculptures are created by setting the native seed pods into concrete and then burning the material away. What is left are the fossilised fingerprints of the forms, with the natural resin and carbon leaving stained echoes of the pod’s colour and texture. As nature herself holds the power to violently sculpt our landscape, I too wish to utilise fire as a tool in my sculptural practice.

These sculptures are a subversion on the Eastern ‘Scholars Stones’ (Gongshi China and Suiseki Japan). These revered natural forms take millennia to shape, only after the elements and time have left their mark can these objects hold the spirit of the landscape and become ‘spirit stones’. With these sculptures I am exploring the same philosophy but I am using the exact opposite process. By instantly removing the natural forms that have existed for millions of years I am leaving their ghostly impressions within an industrial man-made material.

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Traces v Sculpture

oliver ashworth-martin

Australia

Sculpture, concrete on Wood

Size: 5.2 W x 10.5 H x 5.2 D in

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$1,860

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ABOUT THE ARTWORK

This series of sculptures are created by setting the native seed pods into concrete and then burning the material away. What is left are the fossilised fingerprints of the forms, with the natural resin and carbon leaving stained echoes of the pod’s colour and texture. As nature herself holds the power to violently sculpt our landscape, I too wish to utilise fire as a tool in my sculptural practice. These sculptures are a subversion on the Eastern ‘Scholars Stones’ (Gongshi China and Suiseki Japan). These revered natural forms take millennia to shape, only after the elements and time have left their mark can these objects hold the spirit of the landscape and become ‘spirit stones’. With these sculptures I am exploring the same philosophy but I am using the exact opposite process. By instantly removing the natural forms that have existed for millions of years I am leaving their ghostly impressions within an industrial man-made material.

DETAILS AND DIMENSIONS
Sculpture:

concrete on Wood

Original:

One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:

5.2 W x 10.5 H x 5.2 D in

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Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.

The native seed pods of Australia have become a central theme in my work. Not only do they house and protect the multitude of new life, they also symbolise nature’s continuous renewal and growth. Our natural world is an endless flow of life coming into form, moving through form and leaving form. My work transcends the everyday/mundane natural objects that we find scattering the Australian land, and re-awakens a fascination with our natural world. When we become aware and mindful of our environment we see that “what has always seemed so natural reveals how wondrously supernatural it is” (Frederick Franck, The Zen of Seeing). By working with the seed pods I am showing the unfathomable complexity and depth of the natural world, while simultaneously pointing to the impermanence within it. Both my sculptural and two-dimensional practice are investigations into the timeless and formless intelligence within nature, no matter what is observed there will always be another layer of truth waiting to be revealed.

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