Monday 15 March 2010

Darlinghurst, art

I stumbled across this sculpture recently in a courtyard behind an office building that contains the Darlinghurst Post Office. The building is located at 1 Oxford Street, on the border of the inner city suburbs of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst. The artwork is called Naissance Bronze by Arthur Sherman. The plaque reads: A symbolic representation of Australia, the sculpture from a distance appears as a burst of energy, its surface texture capturing the quality of lava, its foundation the kangaroo. Other figures representative of Australia evolve out of the kangaroo in marsupial fashion. The Aboriginal and White race are interlocked yet pulling apart at the top of the work. As in Aboriginal x-ray painting, the bones and muscles of the kangaroo, Aborigine and Captain Cook are exposed, merging with the roots of a Moreton Bay Fig Tree.

17 comments:

  1. Thanks for the information on this marvelous statue!

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  2. It is not ugly! It is art! Very creative and intricate statue!

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  3. Enjoyed this considerably – thank you for sharing…
    …rob
    Image & Verse

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  4. Not at all ugly in my opinion. I am just having trouble locating it.
    Border of SH and D would make it up near Taylors Square somewhere, but is this #1 Oxford St? I would love to have a look at it.

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  5. Julie, 1 Oxford Street is further down at Whitlam Square, diagonally across from Hyde Park.

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  6. A powerful and poignant piece of work. It reminds me just a little of some of Rodin's sculptures!

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  7. Very interesting. Apols for not responding earlier, have been in Katoomba at the music festival. My reflection shot is the base of a fountain. Its at Railway Square, in that open bit in the middle of the Devonshire Street tunnel, if that makes sense.

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  8. Thanks Ann. I know exactly where that is. Haven't wandered around there in a while.

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  9. Goodness, even with the description I can't make heads nor tails out of it except for the vaguely human-like figures on top. And what kangaroo and tree? It'll take me hours to unravel it.

    ;)

    Fantastic texture though.

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  10. great to see somewhere I have never seen - must find!

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