Paul Selwood
18 May 2006 to 10 Jun 2006
Read Exhibition Essay
Paul Selwood first studied sculpture at the National Art School, Sydney in 1964.
At the end of 1965 he went to Greece to carve marble in the Lit Nitus quarries on the island of Paros, famed for its pure white marble since classical times. He then spent the next six years in London where he was represented by the Kasmin Gallery and met many of the avant-guarde painters and sculptors of the time. He was invited to teach sculpture at the Bath Academy of Art in 1969 and 1970. Since his return to Australia in 1971, Selwood has given over twenty solo exhibitions of sculpture.
Some of the works in this exhibition, reflect the experience of a return visit to Europe in 2005. These forms suggest the impervious gravity of an archaic architecture in which Selwood has forged elements of heavy steel to evoke a connection to an iron age heritage. Other works rise vertically defying the gravitational force of their mass, these pieces having only a small footprint, suggest a figurative character through balance and contrapposto.
Music in the House, Requiem and Song further develop Selwood’s investigations of form and space. They are a continuation of the Folded Form series, works in which designs are cut into a single sheet of steel and then opened out from this plane to occupy three dimensional space. Playing with the constraints of this approach, Selwood fashions notions that for him represent a means of expressing the way music can fill an enclosed physical space.
As well as working in steel, Selwood models ideas for sculpture in paper. These folded paper constructions provide the artist with a more immediate process, like drawing, through which both sculptural possibilities and colour experiments can be developed.
In the large work Points of Possible Surety, he uses the folded form as a point of departure. Here he begins to model architectural volume, forming up some parts of the work while leaving other parts as the residual cut edge or drawing of the welding torch.
3.
Paul Selwood
Vortex 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
60 x 9
x 13
cm
4.
Paul Selwood
Doges Palace 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
50 x 40
x 44
cm
5.
Paul Selwood
Giudecca 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
63 x 55
x 50
cm
6.
Paul Selwood
Venice 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
70 x 53
x 58
cm
7.
Paul Selwood
Music in the House 2004
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
80 x 84
x 60
cm
8.
Paul Selwood
Requiem 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
39 x 57
x 31
cm
9.
Paul Selwood
Hill Town 2006
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
22 x 68
x 36
cm
10.
Paul Selwood
Abercrombi Night 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
29 x 60
x 22
cm
11.
Paul Selwood
First Watch 2005
burnished steel
bears artist's stamp and date
25 x 53
x 33
cm
12.
Paul Selwood
Celtic Ruin 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
21 x 25
x 21
cm
14.
Paul Selwood
Apian Way 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
27 x 35
x 26
cm
15.
Paul Selwood
Verse Cube 2006
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
24 x 31
x 18
cm
16.
Paul Selwood
Town Square 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
22 x 18
x 15
cm
17.
Paul Selwood
Watch Tower 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
19 x 22
x 11
cm
18.
Paul Selwood
Rhyming Couplets 2 2005
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
19 x 29
x 8
cm
19.
Paul Selwood
Song 2006
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
13 x 17
x 12
cm
20.
Paul Selwood
Rhyming Couplets 2004
steel, hot zinc sprayed and painted
bears artist's stamp and date
17 x 23
x 11
cm