Greg Johns - Recent Sculptures 2008
Wednesday 1 October 2008
Exhibition Dates: 14 October - 14 November 2008
Opening Tuesday 14th October 6:30pm
Opening address to be delivered by Robert Lindsay, Director of the McClelland Gallery & Sculpture Park
'As a sculptor working in this great landscape, I remain perplexed by how little sculpture produced in Australia reflects this place. We are perhaps locked in to our cities and computers; as well as being overloaded by the international.
My reading of the Australian landscape is both visual, and a felt, beneath-the-surface approach. As I have said before, "it is perhaps deep beneath our thin soils where the significant stories lie, in the extremely old subterranean levels". There is much to be learnt about this place, for those prepared to sit quietly and listen'. Greg Johns 2008
Greg Johns' sculpture has developed and evolved dramatically over the last thirty years. His work consciously reaches out to 'big picture' themes, but the viewing platform has been constructed amongst Australia's flora and fauna. Johns reads beneath the surface of the Australian landscape. Visual elements of the landscape ignite feelings to inspire work, but it is that which cannot be seen, beneath the surface which produces the forms that are of interest to him. Johns investigates the psychological side of landscape, where interior and exterior are connected, both having a role to play.
Greg Johns was born in Adelaide, South Australia. He trained at the South Australian School of Art and graduated with a Diploma of Fine Arts. He has been working as a full-time sculptor since 1978. Johns is a member of New York Sculptors' Guild, the International Sculptor Centre and a committee member of Collaborations (Linking Art and Architecture 1990-1994). He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, England and the United States. In 1997 he was awarded an Australia Council Grant to develop new studio work. In 2001 he received the Stonnington Landscaping Award for his artwork 'Origin' and in 2004 he was recipient of the Waterhouse Prize for Sculpture. In 2005 he was a selected finalist in the Helen Lempriere Sculpture Prize, Werribee Park, Victoria. Johns has received numerous public and private commissions for his sculptures including Crown Casino, Southbank, Melbourne; Australian National University, Canberra; Bell Memorial Garden, Adelaide and Chadstone Shopping Centre, Melbourne. Greg Johns work is represented in many high profile public, corporate and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Bahrain, Channel Islands, England and the United States.
