Marten Bequest Scholarships have revealed that the 2017 recipient for their traveling grant for sculpture is Sydney-based artist, Marian Tubbs, whose work mixes natural and ‘fake’ imagery to offer a striking critique on cultural ascriptions of value.
In Practice: Material Deviance (2017) uses an amalgamation of discarded objects to create something that is simultaneously attractive and repelling. The work that was on display in Long Island, New York earlier this year suspends a mound of merging objects from a metal structure. Abstract Sex use copper piping as a container for a variety of substances such as flowers, weeds and hand sanitiser. This wild concoction and combination of found objects show off the artist’s psychedelic and imaginative aesthetic that has won her the attention of the art world and recently, the scholarship foundation.
The Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship, which has recognised Australian sculptors like Paul Yore, Marley Dawson and Tully Arnot, Tubbs will be awarded $50,000 over a two-year period to encourage and stimulate growth in her artistic practice. With this money the artist plans to complete a residency at Mudhouse, Crete and journey to New York to engage in a mentorship program regarding digital sculpture using ecology minded 3D printing.
This international travel promises to be an enriching process for the artist and will give her the time to explore different cultures and landscapes as well as develop innovative new methods with which to enhance her work. The foundation, founded by theatrical artist John Chisholm Marten (1908-1966) was established in recognition of the financial penalties of travel for artists, where the cost of the journey often prohibits them from joining in on training and study programs that would be vital to their future practice. Marten’s legacy lives on through the scholarship program that has 9 entry programs for artists engaging in practices like acting, architecture, ballet, prose and sculpture.