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louise martin-chew & alison kubler

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MEDIA RELEASE

Spent Time: Stephen Hart Sculpture

A new book and film create an evocative portrait

of Stephen Hart and his sculptural process

Still from Spent Time: The Work of Stephen Hart(DVD) showingHart’s Guardian Gateway, 2011, sculpure in the collection of Gold Coast City Art Gallery. Photograph Alex Chomicz.

Stephen Hart’s meticulously crafted sculptures in timber, stone and bronze reveal a contemplation of the human condition. They also have a whimsical quality. Spent Time: Stephen Hart Sculptureprofiles 20 years of his practice, incorporating colour plates of his work, highly readable texts, and fully documenting his inspiration and dedication to sculpture.

Released in September, Hart’snew book includes a DVD filmed by award-winning film-maker Alex Chomicz. This becomes a sensitively drawn portrait of Stephen and his working process toward his major work for 2011, Spent Time.This sculpture is the centrepiece of an exhibition, also titled “Spent Time”, currently showing at Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney. The work is a tour de force and in many ways the summation of his work to date.

The book outlines Stephen’s contribution to Australian sculpture over recent decades, with new biographical material, discussion of his artistic interests and includes essaysby visual arts writer Louise Martin-Chew and curator Hendrik Kolenberg.

“Essentially a carver rather than modeller, Hart is arguably most at home carving stone or wood, often deliberately choosing the hardest materials, including ironbark from old jetty pylons. The resistance suits his dogged persistence and desire to make something solid and weighty, in keeping with the rugged simplicity of his work. What he carves in hardwood he often casts in bronze. Truth to materials is second nature to him. It is why he is a sculptor.” (“Stephen Hart and Everyman” by Hendrik Kolenberg, Senior Curator, Art Gallery of New South Wales)

Hart has had over 35 solo and collaborative exhibitions, has completed several public commissions and has been a finalist in two Wynne Prizes (2008 and 2001). His work is held in many private and institutional collections including Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane; Gold Coast City Art Gallery; Bathurst Regional Art Gallery; Quintrex Australia and Sydney Children's Hospital.

Stephen Hart’s exhibition at Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay,“Spent Time”,is on until 28October2011. The film is viewable online from the link below:

PUBLICATION DETAILS:

Spent Time: Stephen Hart Sculpture, published by Stephen Hart & Arthouse, 2011. In association with Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Jan Manton Art, Brisbane. Edited by Ian Were.

Hardcover: 112 pages

RRP $80

Includes Spent Time: The Work of Stephen Hart (DVD), made by filmmaker Alex Chomicz, (assisted by a Skills and Arts Development Grant, Arts Queensland, 2011).

. "Something Like This: Stephen Hart's Artistic Journey" by Louise Martin-Chew

. "Stephen Hart and Everyman" by Hendrik Kolenberg

. Short essays on each series of works by Stephen Hart

Books available online at

and at art bookshops throughout Australia.

For more information, interviews or images, please call Louise Martin-Chew, mc/k art consulting, tel 0418 267 197.

STEPHEN HART

Biographical Notes

Education

Professional Appointments

Selected Solo and Collaborative Exhibitions

2011Spent Time, Michael Reid, Sydney

2010Something Like This, Jan Manton Art, Brisbane

2009 Oddfellows, Michael Reid, Sydney

2008 Frank. Jan Manton Art, Brisbane

2008 Works on paper, Michael Reid, Sydney

2007 But that might change, Michael Reid, Sydney

Awards, Prizes

2008 Finalist, Wynne Prize, Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Exhibition, AGNSW, Sydney

Public commissions

Collections

• Gold Coast City Art Gallery
• Queensland University of Technology Cultural Precinct Art Museum
• Sydney Children’s Hospital, Westmead
• Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst
• Quintrex Australia, Gold Coast
• Private collections Brisbane, Sydney, Bathurst, Hong Kong, Los Angeles

Publications

• Louise Martin-Chew, Hendrik Kolenberg, Stephen Hart, Spent Time, Arthouse, 2011.
• Tim Morrell, ‘Preview’, Australian Art Collector, April 2008
• Louise Martin-Chew, “A Silent Walk: The Sculpture of Stephen Hart”, Artlink, Vol 25 No 4.
• Louise Martin-Chew, “Stephen Hart”, Temperature: Contemporary Queensland Sculpture, Museum of Brisbane, 2004.
• Michele Helmrich, Gone Troppo, Australian Art Review , July 2004

• Brown, Phil, ‘Homegrown’, Brisbane News, 14 June 2000
• Maccheroni Collins, Kate, ‘Hart is a dab hand when it comes to artwork’, The Courier Mail, 4 July 1998
• Durham, Alison, ‘Man made’, Australian Country Looks, August 1996, 86 – 87
• Hedger, Michael, Public Sculpture in Australia, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1995
• Donnelly, Fiona, ‘Style revolution’, The Courier Mail, 16 December 1995
• Griffiths, Bruce, ‘Lasting gifts for future’, Western Advocate, 21 November 1988
• Maloon, Terence, ‘Pure prodigy – no preservatives added’, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 December 1983

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