Surface Vector - Solo Exhibition

Surface Vector

CraftACT
27 August - 17 October 2020

Surface vector is the culmination of two lines of sculptural inquiry, Fragment and Splinter Array. Each body of work focuses on notions of motion, force, illusion, growth and decay through Abstract minimalist metal forms. Experimentation and development of metal forming techniques are at the core of Dan’s practice. The unforeseen outcomes of experimenting and process driven work is often the catalyst for both new artworks and new methods of making - leading to dynamic and skilfully made work.

Exhibition essay by Eva Czernis-Ryl
Curator, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences

‘Surface Vector’

Dan Lorrimer graduated from the ANU School of Art Sculpture workshop in 2009. Three years later, the writer Yolande Norris was so impressed with his first solo show of ‘gracefully explosive’ metal sculptures at CCAS Manuka that she declared it a ‘terrifyingly strong debut’. [1] The intense nine years of Lorrimer’s creative journey that followed were marked by some forty exhibitions, a major  acquisition by the University of Western Sydney and a prestigious museum commission, cementing his reputation as a talented and imaginative sculptor with a deep understanding of, and passion for the materiality of metal.

 

Lorrimer’s sculptures are often described as abstract minimalist and it is true that for most of his works, he chooses a reductionist aesthetic where form, material and movement underpin spatial concepts. His inspiration however, comes from forms found in nature. Lorrimer is particularly fascinated by crystalline structures of minerals and the energy of such natural phenomena as the collisions of the tectonic plates of the Earth’s lithosphere. And when he works with sheet metal (Lorrimer’s sculptures are hollow) aided by the force of the hydraulic press, there is nothing minimalistic in his desire to give it dynamic form and to release the material’s inner energy: he repeatedly folds the metal sheets, he creases them like paper, he deconstructs the unnaturally calm metal expanses into splinter-shaped planes ushered by shooting lines converging into points of impact. Whether using steel, aluminium or brass, Lorrimer sees ‘a world of possibilities’ in this highly focused, entirely hands-on explorative process.  

 

‘Surface Vector’ offers rewarding insights into Lorrimer’s ongoing sculptural pursuits over the last three years. Series such as Fragments and Splinters are represented. The key works in this exhibition - wall reliefs and sculptures - bear titles like Lineal Divide, Triple Junction and Departed Trajectory, and when considered together with the show’s title, encourage a look beyond the form and into the compositional strategies the artist employs to achieve his surface tensions. Much of our perception of motion in these works relies on surface fractures and their raw energy. It is fascinating to realise that all those lineal folds, tears and creases also happen to be vectors that define individual character of each work through their magnitude and direction: these line-vectors run, collide and play of each other, orchestrating each artwork’s mood and drama. We know that Lorrimer’s sculptures are complete and static, yet we almost feel their hard surfaces still pulsating... that if we look away and give more time, they will continue transforming - from and back again into the metal - infinitely.

[1] Yolande Norris, Digital Either - Dan Lorrimer,15 February 2011, https://yolandenorris.com.au/2011/02/15/digital-ether-dan-lorrimer/ Accessed 30 July 2020.

A preview of the work below

DanLorrimer-TripleJunction-Rust-46.jpg
DanLorrimer-FragmentAscent-BTS-2.jpg
DanLorrimer-FragmentAscent-BTS-10.jpg
DanLorrimer-SplinterArray6-Rust-26.jpg
DanLorrimer-FragmentAscent-BTS-7.jpg
DanLorrimer-FragmentAscent12and1-GroupingsLandscape.jpg
DanLorrimer-SplinterArray6-Rust-19.jpg
DanLorrimer-FragmentAscent-BTS-3.jpg
DanLorrimer-DepartedTrajectory3-Black-28.jpg
DanLorrimer-SplinterArray7-White-30.jpg
DanLorrimer-FragmentAscent9and11-GroupingsLandscape.jpg
DanLorrimer-DepartedTrajectory3-Black-1.jpg
DanLorrimer-SplinterArray7-White-22.jpg
DanLorrimer-SplinterArray8-1-14.jpg

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