New Work

By Sharne Wolff

Michael Moran’s New Work leans away from being easily dropped into any of the usual boxes. This show, however, is ‘minimal’ in that it consists of only three works – all sculptural objects constructed from lead, copper and silver. Moran is an artist who works across different media but the selection of metals for these pieces was one that came easily. His father is a fitter and turner and as a kid, or in his words an ‘unpaid child apprentice’, he helped his father in the workshop. Consequently process, materiality and familial memory are all important elements in this show.

For the two Untitled pieces the artist works with opposites. He’s allowed molten lead and silver to form an organically shaped base. From each of these metal blobs a delicate bounty of thin copper pipes sprouts and stretches to meet the exact height of the Gallery ceiling as Moran plays with the concept of art in space. In BUST, the copper pipes are inserted into an inverted head-shaped lead sculpture. The copper is burnished and combined with silver to produce colourful gnarly tubes that bend and appear stick-like. Although in some ways quite absurd these sculptures produce the temptation to recall landscapes or figurative shapes.

Until May 4

Galerie Pompom, Chippendale

www.galeriepompom.com

Pic: Michael Moran, Untitled (Sticks) (detail) 2013, lead, copper and silver, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Pompom. Photographs: Jamie North.