Bronte Cormican-Jones

About the work

Bronte Cormican-Jones has been commissioned by Canberra Art Biennial to create a new sculptural installation for the grounds of NFSA. Her series of lighting interventions respond to the architecture of the site, and the formal considerations of shape, line, intersection, space and perception. Steel elements act as sculptural frameworks for neon lighting, which comes alive at night.

Lighting the grassy site between NFSA and the Shine Dome neon and steel structures interact with the space, responding to the architectural surroundings with echoes of line, shape and form. In its entirety, the neon installation invites movement from its viewers. Acting at once as a collection of two-dimensional drawings in space, and three-dimensional sculptures, the work shifts from different perspectives. At a certain vantage point, the shapes appear to converge with one another, or nest in concentric patterns. To the viewer in motion, however, the installation becomes active. Neon frames sit adjacent, before intersecting, cutting into new spaces, and opening the field of vision to the world outside the rectangle.

Large, curved structures reference the hemispherical Shine Dome, whilst a series of rectangular and rhombic prisms interlock through a repetition of shapes, drawing and cutting through space, both opening it up and dissecting it. The angular trapezoid balconies of the Ovolo Nishi Hotel are also echoed as structures on the lawn.

The steel structures holding their weight whilst the sun is up, whereas the ethereal glow of the neon, visible in the shaded areas with pine tree cover, transforms as the sun sets and their glow heightens. At night, the neon acts to light the public space, the quiet thoroughfare which is otherwise a dark space within Canberra City.

The installation acts as a mediary space between artwork and viewer, with the public space itself becoming a medium for Cormican-Jones’ practice. The act of observing the artwork is also made to be performative. As the viewer navigates the installation, the sculptural spaces created by Cormican-Jones offer moments of contemplation, moment of pause, and visual play.

Of line, of light.

Cutting through space,

opening it up, and out.

Tracing the forms, the buildings.

Framing new spaces, non spaces,

passageways and tunnels,

archways and gaps,

(the spaces of access).

Moving toward the centre of the field,

to expand it, to reach a boundary.

At the intersection of light and line,

an architectural reflection,

a form repeated,

a leaning rectangle becomes a rhombus,

the balcony askew on the lawn.

From point to line to plane,

the interlocking spaces,

nesting, converging, concentric,

then inter-secting, over-lapping, layered.

The echo.

The fold.

Architecture form the outside.

 

 

The artist would like to specifically thank David Cooper, whose work and mentorship made this project possible.

Acknowledgements: Kelsey Fernkopf, Steve Gilbert.

About the artist

Bronte Cormican-Jones is an emerging Australian contemporary artist and writer, living and working on Garrigal traditional lands in Sydney.

Her practice is primarily sculptural, exploring the field of spatial practice through object, installation, performance and photography. She is drawn to the architectural materials of glass, timber, steel, and bricks, and her work investigates the ways that these industrial materials behave in the gallery space.

Cormican-Jones’ practice is interested in our physical responses to the infrastructure around us. Her recent works explore relationships between architecture and the body, often encouraging her audience to move around the gallery space and notice changes in their perception whilst they physically navigate her works.