This human sized heart fits and sinks perfectly into the soft and forgiving parts of a hand. Weight is a very important element in all my work, both sculptures and paintings. The weight, the 'hang', the fill of the blood in the Hands, Vaginas, Hearts; the impact of weight and its' languid sensuality.
When casting the heart, I first had to hang it in a way which allowed the blood to fill it so the openings fell in just the right direction. The angle of fall, of gravity, all crucial to the 'weight' of the final form as it lays on its side. To see it laid bare on a table, the form full not sinking or fading is passionately positive, hopeful and inspiring. It is the inside out pointing once again literally to the inside of it. All of my work has a link and a relationship to an archetypal form, if you like; skulls, vaginas, fossils, eyes. From inside to out. Permanence to impermanence. Round, full, fecund and by default I guess female.
Courtesy of Jensen Gallery
Melissa Coote lives and work in Sydney and Paris. She has exhibited both in Australia and nationally, and is represented by Jensen Gallery.
Originally training as a photographer, her practice also includes painting and more recent experimentation with sculpture. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from College of Fine Art, Sydney and a Master of Painting from University of Western Sydney.
bronze with a black patina slightly polished
8 x 8.5 x 10.5 cm
Finalist
Judges of the 2015 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Dr Michael Brand (Director of the Art Gallery of NSW), Penelope Seidler AM (Arts Patron and Director of Harry Seidler & Associates) and Barbara Flynn (International Curatorial Advisor).