Present Continuous:

Artists working with glass

2023 / Sydney College of the Arts
Curated by Barbara Campbell and Liam Garstang

Present Continuous
Curated by Barbara Campbell and Liam Garstang
Sydney College of the Arts

“Glass is breaking”, is a sentence in the present continuous tense, conjuring an anxiety-inducing state. Most artists who are experts in handling glass know how to control breakages. But they are also aware that glass is a subject, it has its own will, if you like. Glass will break. Present Continuous is also, therefore, about being continuously present to the possibilities of the medium in the moment of making: to allow glass to speak to its own immanent fragility. This movement from material to metaphor is taken up by all the artists in Present Continuous, none more so than by the late Neil Roberts whose sculptural understanding of glass is represented by works from 1983 to 2001. His influence continues in the work of the contemporary artists in this exhibition who are attuned to both the conceptual and formal properties of their media.  

Present Continuous, curated by Barbara Campbell and Liam Garstang, proffers glass as material and metaphor. The exhibition features works from the Estate of Neil Roberts (1954–2002), alongside recent works by Sydney College of the Arts staff and alumni: Gabrielle Adamik, Consuelo Cavaniglia, Cobi Cockburn, Chris Dolman, Stevie Fieldsend, Paul Greedy, and Andrew Lavery.

Stevie is a graduate of SCA whose work seeks to capture the sensation or bodily memories of past events, particularly those that elicit longing and grief. Fieldsend’s practice spans sculpture and installation, often encompassing materials such as charred wood, steel, textiles and of course, glass.   

Artwork Details
‘Song of Songs’, Mirrored glass, steel, curtain fringe, 300 x 1500 x 60cm

Photos by Document Photography