One of Australia’s most significant living sculptors, Erwin Fabian, celebrates his 100th birthday this November. An impressive milestone but one that hasn’t seen the artist slowing down, with him still practicing as a sculptor.
To celebrate this momentous birthday, Australian Galleries Melbourne hosts an exhibition of Fabian’s latest pieces in ‘Recent Sculpture’. Represented by Robin Gibson Gallery, the artist’s ‘Recent Sculpture’ exhibition was first shown in May this year and travels to Melbourne. Predominantly working with scrap, rusted metal, Fabian transforms these raw, often industrial pieces by bending them into meaningful sculptures, with a new identity that borrows from nature in its organic forms.
Born in Berlin in 1915, the son of painter Max Fabian, he left for England in 1938, was interned and then deported to Australia in 1940 on the Dunera troopship. But it wasn’t until 1962 that he held his first exhibition of sculpture at the Hung Horse Gallery in Sydney. Having worked for over half a century, Fabian’s work has refined over the years and grown in intensity, while retaining a strong aesthetic. His sculptures although figurative, open a conversation with the viewer, connecting on a human and emotive level.
Australian Galleries, Derby Street
5 to 22 November, 2015
Melbourne
Lost Days, 2015, steel, 136 x 60 x 44cm
Photograph: Viki Petheridge
Courtesy the artist, and Robin Gibson Gallery, Sydney