John Atkin

The Sentinel came about through an invitation by David Hanley, Director, Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, to exhibit a new sculpture as part of their annual exhibition along the Bondi coastline. This was an opportunity for me to visit a country which had proved to be an inspiration for a great deal of my output between 1988 through 1990 and a way of reflecting on how my work had evolved over the 14-year interlude since my last series of visits to Australia.

 

In addition, SXS invited me to be keynote speaker at the Art Gallery of NSW where I lectured on the Cass Sculpture Foundation, the first 10 years of Goodwoods’ impact on the contemporary art world and its relationship to the evolving face of British sculpture.

 

I was also invited to take a master class in drawing at the Tom Brass Sculpture Studio School in Sydney and was privileged to work with a dedicated group of staff and a range of talented students.

 

My sculpture Sentinel formed part of an exhibit at Marks Park, Bondi a high promontory with spectacular views across the Tasman Sea.

 

The shape and form of the sculpture derive from studies of garment control patterns and industrial rolling stock had distinct figurative connotations.  Its title appropriate to the isolation of the locale, and vistas across the headline headland. The rich red patina of the sculpture referenced the iron-infused century center of this continent, and potent memory from my early visits to Australia; Its overall form resonant of the Pinnacles Desert in Western Australia, a spectacular landmass that I had visited in 1990. 

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Sentinel forms part of a series of ongoing artworks which reflect my interest in the found object. tradition in modern and contemporary art, through the use of garment templates, which acts as metaphors for the human body, and allude to ideas relating to identity.