New Sculpture and Woodcuts
Fox Jensen - 2010
Sam Harrison is without question one of this cultures most gifted artists. Sam has just won a major commission for the Woollahra District Council to make a commemorative sculpture for the women of Woollahra in Sydney. A single figure will be cast in bronze and situated in Blackburn Gardens in the heart of Double Bay.
Harrison has just celebrated the opening of an exhibition where he has sculpted seven women. Even from the accompanying images one can sense that this extraordinary work conveys dignity, poise and strength. Harrison’s approach to the figure is to scrutinise the ‘subject as object’ avoiding the sentimentality and obvious narrative so that the strength of the sculptures is most apparent leaving the works open and flexible.
This group of women are presented at ease. Each carries a grace and poise that is communicated by the ambience they dictate. A casual contrapposto, a steadfast stance – the figure’s architecture makes a kind of visual sense. Each figures’ eyes are closed and because of this, each feel approachable, able to be “seen” and as viewers we are allowed into this intimate space without any trace of prurience or discomfort.
Harrison’s blend of facility and scrutiny is rare. His approach to the figure is to treat the form as object, imbued with sensuality and dignity regardless of age or “condition”. Sam sees beauty in the characteristics popular culture steadfastly ignores. His is a sculpture that captures the dimension of personality without relying on the theatre and drama of implied narratives - rather it is the unswerving honesty of his gaze that manages to ‘interrogate with care’.
