Beached art

Beached art

PERTH - It is just a five-hour flight away from Singapore, but Perth's hosting of a beachside sculpture festival is giving an arty twist to the sleepy town Singaporeans think they know very well.

Cottesloe Beach, a strip of sandy paradise in a western suburb of the Australian city, is now dotted with some 74 sculptures by Australian and international artists.

These include a gigantic 33,000-litre wine carrier made of reflective PVC, pairs of cast-glass feet perched on rocks, a flower made of stainless steel that sways in the wind and an installation of 8,000 red and yellow mini flags.

Visitors - all 220,000 of them for the three-week Sculpture By The Sea on till March 24 - are encouraged to touch and interact with most of the sculptures.

They include Australian artist Geoffrey Drake-Brockman's Solar Jayne, a solar-activated cast marble body mould of dancer Jayne Smeulders of the West Australian Ballet, which pirouettes prettily when visitors press a button; and Belgian-born Perth-based artist Annette Thas' Wave 1, a sculpture of blonde Barbie dolls lying tangled on an aluminium-shaped wave, under which beachgoers catch some shade.

There is also American artist Peter Lundberg's Adam And Eve sculpture of cast bronze, looking very much like contemporary monkey bars.

Each visitor "works" on the sculpture, says Mr Scott Brandon Smith, 52, a helper at Sculpture By The Sea. "Each human contact polishes rough bronze, revealing a smooth surface underneath," he explains.

The annual non-profit sculpture festival is in its 10th year in Perth. Former corporate lawyer David Handley founded the festival on Sydney's Bondi Beach in 1997 and the Perth version followed in 2005.

The Australian first mooted the idea when he visited an outdoor sculpture park, set among 13th-century ruins near the town of Klatovy, while living in Prague in the early 1990s.

Mr Handley, 48, who now runs the festival full-time, says: "I love the idea of large community arts events, such as listening to a symphony under the stars or to opera in the park."

The idea took shape when friends suggested he take a stroll on Sydney's Bondi Beach, where he saw "natural plinth after natural plinth, upon which sculptures of all descriptions could be installed", he adds.

Only sculptures could stand the test of the elements, says Mr Handley. Paintings, for example, would be a liability in the wind, rain and, particularly in Australia's case, the blazing sun.

The first Sculpture By The Sea on Bondi Beach was a one-day exhibition staffed entirely by volunteers, produced with just A$11,000.

It now costs more than A$1 million (S$1.1 million) to run each show in Sydney and Perth - the Perth edition this year costs A$1.6 million.

Sponsors cover half the total cost of running the show and the rest comes from government grants, private donors, commission from the sale of sculptures and public donations.

In 2009, Sculpture By The Sea went to Aarhus in Denmark, under the patronage of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. About 400,000 visitors viewed the 60 sculptures there.

Princess Mary, a Hobart native, reportedly took her prince to a Sculpture By The Sea exhibition in Sydney on their first date, so the story goes.

There might not be a similar royal fairy tale for Singapore, but Mr Handley says he has been approached by Singaporeans, whom he declines to name, to take the event here.

But there are no plans to take the sculpture show to the republic at present, says Mr Handley.

"I am not sure if the coast of Singapore is right for the show and as it is very expensive, we need the site to be suitable."

The venue has to be close enough to a city for visiting artists to transport their sculptures to, but still have a mid-sized beach, says Mr Handley.

Perth's Cottesloe Beach has a 2km stretch of beach that is "just right" to place the sculptures.

"If the beach is too long or huge, it swallows the sculptures," he explains.

The beauty of setting visual art in an accessible beachside location is very special, says Mr Handley.

"It engages everyone, from serious art-lovers and collectors to people who do not normally visit galleries but have come to enjoy the exhibition year to year, basking in the sun, sea and sand."

Money is also pumped in to tighten security after an incident in Perth two years ago where vandals destroyed a sculpture by Chinese artist Chen Wen Ling. The culprits were later caught by police and were sentenced to communitybased orders.

Mr Handley hopes that the show will push the country further as a destination for art and culture.

He says: "People think that Australia is full of beaches, kangaroos and some good sports teams, but I hope that this event is part of an evolving Australia that will give it a more sophisticated, cultural beach image."

Sun-loving Australians, meanwhile, are all for frolicking by the sculptures.

Says housewife Laura West, 39, who was visiting the beach for a swim: "It is great to play by the beach with all these beautiful sculptures and it is interesting to see some people ducking under sculptures for shade or viewing it as a curator would, with a critical, sharp eye."

keziatoh@sph.com.sg

The writer's trip was sponsored by Sculpture By The Sea and Tourism Western Australia.

View it

SCULPTURE BY THE SEA

Where: Cottesloe Beach, Perth, Australia

When: Till March 24

Admission: Free

Info: 74 sculptures by artists from countries such as Australia, Japan, Brazil and the United States on the beach, overlooking the Indian Ocean. For visitors with disabilities, free tactile tours are available at selected times to engage with the sculptures through dialogue and touch. Visiting artists will also conduct 20-minute talks, four sessions a day from 9am to noon. Call +61-2-8399-0233 or e-mail info@sculpturebythesea.com.


Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.