July/August 08
An Ever Expanding Universe (WA) > WA
Because of its title, my initial reaction to this exhibition was one of curiosity. Read More
Art Deco 1910 - 1939 (VIC) > VIC
With its Bakelite radio, Tamara De Lempicka painting and luxurious dressing table complete with intricate ivory inlays, the opening room of the National Gallery of Victoria’s Art Deco show says it all. Read More
Melbourne Art Fair (VIC) > VIC
With 80 commercial galleries, 10 project spaces, two specially commissioned installations and anticipated sales at the $10.5 million mark, the Melbourne Art Fair isn’t the sort of place to play things down. Read More
Puberty Blues
To stay sane in this world it is sometimes necessary to step back and laugh at the sheer nonsense that follows in the wake of a moral scandal. Read More
Robert Jenyns (NSW) > NSW
Pop psychologists and armchair analysts are masters of the succinct and the obvious. Read More
The enchanted forest: new gothic storytellers (VIC) > VIC
Curiouser and curiouser... a new approach to gothic. Read More
Turn, Turn, Turn: the past talks to the present (NSW) > NSW
Nick Waterlow is the only person to have curated more than one Biennale of Sydney. Read More
VIVID National Photographic Festival (ACT) > ACT
Australian photography festivals are seemingly multiplying at a rapid pace, with VIVID being the latest member to join the growing team. Read More
Gomboc Gallery and Sculpture Park
By Judith McGrath
While the champagne corks are popping in Canberra to celebrate the National Gallery of Australia’s 25th birthday, elsewhere around the country there are a number of commercial galleries celebrating a quarter of a century. This year, Gomboc Gallery and Sculpture Park is celebrating 25 years in the business. What makes this event unique is that we’re not discussing just another commercial endeavour; we’re celebrating a continuing work in progress, a way of life.
Ratimir (Ron) and Terrie Gomboc live and work on 4.5 hectares located in the Swan Valley, less then an hour’s drive from Perth. In 1982, they purchased a bare horse paddock and set to work constructing a single storey building that incorporated living space, studio and exhibition room, and a foundry in the back shed.
Jean-Pierre Rives, Untitled, steel sculpture
A quarter century down the track the undulating grounds have been transformed into broad grassed areas dotted with trees and natural bush growing along a stream. What started out to be a place to produce and present Ron’s own work has grown into a highly respected and internationally known venue that nurtures and encourages art and artists from around Australia and the world.
Today the two storey gallery consists of five exhibition rooms totalling 170 running metres of hanging space and 400 square metres of floor space. It also includes a self-contained artist-in-residence apartment that can accommodate three visiting artists. Beyond the gallery there is a large working foundry and a separate family home. Surrounding the buildings are neat lawns, gardens and patio all displaying sculpture. The extended grounds also host works in situ making a stroll around the place a delight as you encounter art in all aspects of landscape.
From its inception the Gomboc Gallery and Sculpture Park has encouraged emerging as well as established artists. Its most celebrated event is the annual open Sculpture Survey, a unique exhibition fully funded by the Gombocs. What began as a ‘Sculpture Prize’ a year after the gallery opened has grown into a prestigious survey of contemporary sculpture. As well as invited artists, students from local tertiary art institutions are invited to produce site specific works. Participation in the survey gives the student valuable experience working with art professionals, the opportunity to exhibit their work alongside respected national and/or international sculptors, and have their exhibit documented as part of a prestigious event. Most importantly, works by many students remain on the grounds along with those of noted practitioners.
The foundry is a very important aspect of the place. It’s Ron's domain where this multi award winning artist continues to create and cast his own work, assist other artists in the casting of public and private commissions, and play a major part in the preparation and presentation of the annual Sculpture by the Sea (Cottesloe).
Margaret Woodward, From the Stage, mixed media, oil on belgian linen. Ron has participated in sculpture exhibitions and/or symposiums at home in Australia and abroad in Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia. He was invited to co-ordinate a Lost Wax Bronze Casting Workshop in LaSalle Art College by the Ministry of Culture and Development of Singapore. And his work will represent Australia in a new Sculpture Park being constructed in Beijing
as part of that city’s Olympic celebrations.
Meanwhile the residences and gallery are Terrie's domains. Over the years, she has hosted artists from around Australia as well as sculptors from Europe, Asia and North America in both the residence flat and her own home.
Terrie manages exhibitions for artists at various levels of their career. When the gallery commenced all those years ago, it offered a venue for up and coming contemporary artists to show their work when no other gallery was interested. This concept continues today. If a student or emerging artist can produce honest work, Terrie gives them the opportunity to show their efforts, and will take as much care in doing so as she would the most celebrated artist. In recognition of that fact, many well-established artists of today, who exhibited in the Gomboc Gallery in their early days, when no other gallery would give them the chance, continue to show their work here.
Robert Juniper, bronze sculpture (left) and a fountain sculpture by R.M. (Ron) Gomboc. All images courtesy Gomboc Gallery.
For 25 years Gomboc Gallery and Sculpture Park has promoted Australian art and artists and it continues to play an important part in fostering contemporary sculpture throughout Australia and around the world. The willingness to assist newcomers and old hands with equality is what gives Gomboc Gallery and Sculpture Park its excellent reputation. To celebrate its Silver Anniversary the Gomboc Gallery & Sculpture Park is holding an exhibition involving artists that have been a part of the place since its earliest days. Artists like Robert Juniper, Margaret Woodward, Andrew Sibley, Brian Richard Taylor, Andrew Kaye and so many more. Congratulations, here’s to the next quarter century!
Judith McGrath is an arts writer and reviewer based in Perth.
