Extinct Thylacine returns to exact revenge from prime minister for his inaction on climate change

Automata Sculpture – Paul E Mason 2020
350 x 350 x 200mm

 

 

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21^st Century Reliquaries Encounter c.1800 Terra Australis.

The contemporary reliquary  – an object that is good to think.

An art exhibition that references the Baudin expedition might lead one to expect realist work influenced by the Enlightenment tradition of the artist scientist. Paul Mason, however, references another artistic tradition, that of the reliquary. While he eschews the directly religious and spiritual connotations of the reliquary, Mason preserves the relic’s symbolic density and concern with veneration and celebration of the object and its link to larger themes. Thus Mason uses gold and gold leaf from Imperial France and diorite from Aboriginal Australia as materials that confer sacred value on otherwise ordinary objects. Mason’s representations of human beings, whether European or Indigenous also eschews the Enlightenment humanism of the Baudin expedition artists; He adopts an archetypal mode of representation that allows us to see a differently patterned colonial encounter.

Gerry Gill – La Trobe University

 

LOOKING FOR BAUDIN RELIQUARY 2017
Diorite, oak, lead, resin, plastic, silver braid. 32X9x25cm.

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LAPEROUSE RELIQUARY 2016
Kauri, othoceras fossil, acrylic, lead, resin, aluminium, plastic, gold leaf, silver braid. 18x34x24cm.

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HOPKINS RIVER TRADE RELIQUARY 2014
Diorite (Gunditjmara country), casuarina, Australian cedar, brass, gold leaf. 53x44x17cm.

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D’ENTRECASTEAUX RELIQUARY 2016
Diorite, kauri, gold leaf, plastic,resin, silver braid. 28x19x25cm.

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BAUDIN’S COASTAL PROFILE RELIQUARY 2018
Pewter, wood, resin, Kimberly coastal rocks, diorite, aluminium, gold leaf. 61x20x26cm.

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