Daniel Toomey
Sydney Grammar School
WHEN COMPOSURE RETURNS
Sculpture
Jelutong wood
I am drawn to the genre of still life by its subjectivity, forcing viewers to impose their perspective on the work. Wood carving, like a still life, is static, and creates a ‘snapshot’ of a time so we never forget. It is unique in that the artist is taking away, not adding on. My body of work represents my personal Year Twelve experience. Spending hours at the workbench, I began to notice the connection between time falling away and the shavings of jelutong collecting beneath my feet, making me acutely conscious of my position in and the passage of time.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Ricky Swallow, And The Moment Will Come When Composure Returns, Killing Time, Fearful Symmetry; Paul Kaptein, With the Poise of One Entering a Black Hole For the Third Time, And in the Endless Sounds There Came a Pause, Luxury Problems; Pieter Claesz, Vanitas Still Life; Harmen Steenwyck, Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life.
Marker's Commentary
The body of work marries the technical resolution of hand carving with a knowledge of artists involved in vanitas painting, Memento Mori and the practice of Rick Swallow. The sculptural object evokes powerful personal symbols of a candidate completing an artwork in the time of COVID. The iconography of Dutch painting has been effectively amalgamated with other artefacts such as the watch, mask, hoodie and book to present a postmodern vanitas. This sculpture demonstrates a depth of knowledge of art history and playfully incorporates this across the carved forms. Acknowledging the audience with references to the unfinished sculptured foot, pertaining to Michelangelo’s unfinished slave sculptures, the hoodie and table for Ricky Swallow’s Self Portrait and Killing Time.