My practice explores the interplay between function and form, with a sustained - and (hopefully) often humorous engagement with the modernist desire to integrate art and life on both the domestic level (design) and the larger, more public level (architecture).
The human body is never far from the sculptural environment even if it remains unseen. Sculpture is always a study in proxemics, human proxemics. Proxemics is a theoretical science that is essentially about the use of space, the way people interact with others in daily life as well as the ways they organise personal living spaces and public spaces. A gallery is one of these spaces and my works provide viewers with divergent opportunities to consider their physical selves in relation to the work and its positioning within the space of presentation.
With Malevich and constructivism in mind, idiosyncratic periscopes present as inoperative sections, each with its own colour, curious angle and distinctive character. Against the odds of their design each comprises an object that actually 'functions', albeit not always according to expectations.
Courtesy of Olsen Gallery
Currently living and working in Canberra, Melbourne-born artist Peter Vandermark obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Visual), Sculpture from Canberra Institute of the Arts in 1989 and was an artist in residence at ANU Haldenstein in Switzerland. Having previously lectured at the Canberra School of Art, Peter currently works at the National Gallery of Australia.
His solo exhibitions have included New Work at Olsen Irwin in Sydney, Riven Skin at Melbourne's ether ohnetitel inc, and Babble at Canberra's Helen Maxwell Gallery. Having received the Rosalie Gascoigne Award in 2005, Peter's works have also featured in countless group exhibitions and are held in private and public collections, including those of the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank, Canberra Museum & Gallery, the ACT Legislative Assembly and the Allied Group.
"It is one of Vandermark's strengths as a sculptor that he absorbs and explores the entirety of the designed three-dimensional world, rather than only having a dialogue with the past fine art sculpture." - Dr. Matthew Holt, Art Monthly Australia, 2008
timber, acrylic paint, acrylic mirrors
27 x 80 x 70 cm
Finalist
Judges of the 2017 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Djon Mundine OAM (Curator, Writer, Artist and Activist), Roslyn Oxley OAM (Gallerist and arts benefactor) and Alexie Glass-Kantor (Executive Director, Artspace, Sydney and Curator, Encounters, Art Basel | Hong Kong).
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