Life Cycle commissioned for Bunda street Canberra city 2009, stands 1.5 meters high and is 1.3 meters wide with an overall length of 5 meters. The work displays dynamic material contrast through the use of a gabian structure formed from 10 mm stainless steel rod filled with local blue stone and capped with fabricated stainless steel conical forms. Ideas for the commission evolved from the Unbounded Space series of studio works which investigate the nature of space and speculate about the shape of the universe. Albert Einstein said “space is finite but unbounded” and most physicists agree that several factors govern the nature of space: first it is expanding, second it is curved by gravity and third it has no end or beginning, but is finite. Physical structures in the world that manifest macrocosmically are often mirrored within microcosms. When scaled to the human the ideas explored in the Unbounded Space series and reflected in Life Cycle reveal a metaphor for the finite cycle of an individual’s life. Conceptually the tapering conical forms might represent the abstract space before conception and beyond death while the rock filled mesh can elude to the experiences of a lifetime in between. |