Now in its 14th year, the annual ‘Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe’ returns to transform the famous white sands of Perth’s Cottesloe Beach from 2 to 19 March 2018. The 18-day, open-air exhibition will showcase the work of more than 70 Australian and international artists including 28 artists from Western Australia.
This year, with support from Tourism WA, ‘Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe’ brings celebrated contemporary Chinese artist Zhan Wang to Perth to exhibit a major work in Australia for the first time – Floating Rock, created specifically for Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe. The two metre high by four metre wide stainless steel rock will float on the water at Cottesloe Beach as the latest addition to Zhan Wang’s famous series of works, the ‘Artificial Rocks’ series (1995-current). This is the first of his floating sculptures to be anchored to the sea floor as his previous works in the open ocean have either been left to float where the tides took them or have been on pontoons.
Zhan Wang, Floating Rock; Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2018 (artist impression)
Zhan Wang describes the festival as ‘a fairyland play-thing! Every year, there are new works and tourists who come from all over the world are constantly surprised. I am very grateful to the organisers for inviting me this year and for allowing me to realise a somewhat adventurous piece of work – a boulder floating in the sea.’
‘Often, stones remain permanently on the shore; in the mountains or under the water and underground in a steady state. But the stone work I provided can float on the water and will be constantly moving and reflecting the surrounding colour and light. The natural undulations of the stone are carefully knocked out one by one and finally polished and polished into a shell-shaped shiny metallic stone, named in Chinese: Artificial stone. We cannot say clearly what this future is like, just as it is floating in the sea and waves; it is precisely this changing aesthetic that I hope my work brings to you. A feeling of change, colour, freedom or unknowns of a rich and even chaotic world.’
Zadok Ben-David, Big Boy; Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2017. Photograph: Richard Watson5 (Custom)
The exhibition will showcase works by some of WA’s leading sculptors including Tim Burns, Olga Cironis, Elaine Clocherty, Tony Davis, Kevin Draper, Ron Gomboc, Tony Jones OAM, Janine McAullay Bott, Johannes Pannekoek, as well as leading mid-career and emerging artists Sharyn Egan, Norton Flavel, Jina Lee, April Pine and Tania Spencer.
With 14% of Sculpture by the Sea’s costs covered by government partners and the remainder from private donors and corporate partners, the artists often need support to cover the cost to transport their sculptures to the free exhibition. This year, the sculptures have travelled 319, 467 miles to Cottesloe. Sculpture by the Sea is asking visitors to ‘Buy A Mile’ with a $1 donation to directly assist artists, help the artists return next year and keep the exhibition alive and free for the community.
The Alcoa School Education Program returns to Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe as a highlight exhibition for school-aged children and their teachers. Approximately 2,500 primary and secondary students will participate in artist-led practical Sculpture Workshops, exhibition Focus Tours and Artist Talks during the event.
On Friday 2 March, the $50,000 Rio Tinto Sculpture Award recipient will be announced, whose work will be gifted for permanent public placement to the City of Busselton; and $10,000 WA Sculptor Scholarship.
