Alex Seton
1977 - Tarpaulin rosette I 2016- Cararra marble and stainless steel
ALEX SETON
b1977
lives and works in Sydney
Tarpaulin Rosette II
Cararra marble and steel
34cm x 42cm x 50cm
Acquired in 2016
Alex Seton is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, photography, video and installation, and best known for his use of marble carving.
Seton explores the complex role that objects and their modes of production play in our lives at once comic and tragic, pervasive and rarified, endlessly reproduced and immensely singular.
Recent work has used this lens to engage directly with contemporary political issues, such as Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, and questions of conflict and nationhood.
Created from a single block of marble, Tarpaulin rosette distills both the texture and idea of tarpaulin in a complex three-dimensional volume of folds.
The work reflects on the nature of tarpaulins as items used for shelter a theme with particular currency today, whether we think of homelessness or global migration. Tarpaulins are practical, tough, rough-and-ready and Seton takes delight in expressing that idea by leaving clear tool-marks across the surface of the work yet the piece also has a beguiling fluidity and intimate level of detail.
Seton's work embodies a coming-together of skill and technical precision with a symbolically-charged and elegant form to which all of us can relate.
© Alex Seton