Nic Compton
Image source Nic Compton
Nic Compton‘s life as a working artist spans three decades in which he has created significant works that remain in private and public realms.
Raised in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Nic is connected to his tupuna, his Maori ancestors through growing up in the same landscape of hills, rivers and deep gullies inland of Lake Wairarapa and the nearby beaches of the south east coast of the North Island, particularly Riversdale Beach, where his grandmother dove for paua on the rocks her grandparents knew.
Growing up in Aotearoa New Zealand and having respect for his Maori culture and heritage, Nic’s work draws on an ancient sensibility. He has a strong passion for carving natural materials such as timber and stone to create works that provoke thought and wonder.
He demonstrates deep appreciation of the classical styles and of good structure as a strong foundation of sculptural form. He believes the work should carry a sense of energy or personal power and authority much like the Maori mana.
Nic works from a studio in the wheatbelt town of York, Western Australia approximately 100 kilometres east of Perth.
In addition to his more intimate, studio based work, Nic has completed many large scale public artworks that continue to be appreciated and enjoyed by Western Australian communities.
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Ivan Black
Image Source Ivan Black
Ivan Black was born in London in 1972. His interest in sculpture began at an early age and motion quickly became central to his work, adding as he saw it another layer of complexity and interest to his experiments. An inherent problem solver, he spent his early years amassing multi disciplinary skills in the pursuit of the means to realise his ideas.
Ivan’s current work uses his unique methodology to create forms that mutate upon the introduction of energy. The repetition of identical elements is a recurrent theme in his work, by this means he builds complex fluid structures. Each work is a section of a potentially continuous sequence, generated in form by the application of systematic rules to his geometry.
Ivan takes inspiration for his designs from iconic natural forms, combining a fascination with mathematical formulae and the pioneering spirit of the British engineer to create a synergy between science, art and technology. His meticulously engineered and seamlessly integrated mechanisms are central to the behaviour and appeal of his work. Tending towards the minimalist in design, the movement is allowed to take centre stage.
Jimmy Rix
Image Source Jimmy Rix
Jimmy Rix is an award-winning artist, specialising in sculpture. He has been commissioned to make large scale public art in Australia and China and has been a regular exhibitor in outdoor sculpture exhibitions such as Sculpture by the Sea. Jimmy is represented in Sydney and Melbourne by Australian Galleries and holds regular solo and group exhibitions at these venues.
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George Andric
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1960 Born in Yorketown, South Australia, George Andric is a South Australian artist who uses sculpture to explore the patterns of nature and rhythms of our human existence. His practice is based on a constantly living principle and method of construction which deals with the way complex forms arise from simple elements.
The sculptures that he creates are made up of an arrangement of basic units, allowing him to examine the dynamic relationship between the simple and the complex, between the material and the void, between the viewer and the object and particularly, between structure and form.
As an artist, George strives to find some sense of order that is independent of the world that presents itself to him, which at times can be deceptive and illusory.
George completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts, University of South Australia (SA School of Art) in 1991.
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Manuel Ferreiro Badia
Image Source Manuel Ferrreiro Badia
Manuel Ferreiro Badia, born 1944 in Spain.
His work encompasses the different spheres of artistic creation including sculpture, painting, medal making, ceramics, design and installations for civil engineering.
Ferreiro Badia has held 25 individual exhibitions and 56 joint exhibitions, both in Spain and abroad. His work has been displayed in Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, Colorado (USA), New York (USA), and San Francisco (USA).
Numerous monuments and works in public spaces, and in museums and private collections.
Awards (Selection): National Competitions Award (National Museum of Sculpture, Spain), Tomas Francisco Prieto Prize (Spanish Royal Mint), Honorable Mention (4th International Biennial of Medal, Portugal), Sculpture Prize (Ukrainian Art Week. Kiev), Purchase Prize (Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe, Australia).
He is a member of the F.I.D.E.M., International Art Medal Federation, of the A.N.A., American Numismatic Association and he is an elected member of the National Sculpture Society (USA).
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Dan Newso
Image source Newso
British artist Dan Newso (b. 1982) has a BA in Fine Art and has painted commissioned murals and artwork professionally for the last 10 years. Since 2008 he has been well known for painting in Birmingham’s post-industrial creative quarter Digbeth.
He has exhibited his work internationally with his latest project being a two month residency in Perth, Western Australia.
Throughout 2016 he has developed his pieces combining figurative with abstract content, using negative space, glitched images and collage like layering. He often incorporates the raw surface of a wall to give the work a sense of history and his artwork is painted on highly compressed cement which has a raw texture like a concrete wall.
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Norton Flavel
Image Source Herald Sun
Norton Flavel studied at Edith Cowan University, School of Visual Art. In his graduation exhibition he received the John Birman Memorial Award for the best work in any media.
While developing as an artist, he worked at Edith Cowan University in the Glass, Sculpture and 3D design studios. Flavel has since managed the Cannery Arts Centre and ECU’s Spectrum Project Space in Northbridge. He has exhibited work both nationally and internationally and worked on public art projects and consulted for many well-known WA artists, particularly in the techniques of moulding, casting, fabrication and installation. He established Blastform, a company using explosive forming techniques to produce complex metal forms.
Flavel received considerable media attention for ‘Bulk Carrier’ at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2014, and received the WA Sculptor’s Scholarship Award at Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2015 for ‘Lucky Country’, which was purchased for the Town of Cottesloe Collection. In 2022, he was one of three Bendat Family Foundation WA Invited Artists. Flavel exhibited in Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2015 and 2016, for which he received a prestigious Helen Lempriere Scholarship.
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Wang Shugang
Image Source Vancouver Biennale
Though born in Beijing, China in 1960, Wang Shugang lived for ten years in Germany’s Ruhr region. He returned to live in Beijing, China in 2000, at 40 years old. Wang Shugang is one of the leading contemporary artists in the post revolutionary breakout period of the mid 1990s, referred to as Cynical Realism. He, together with his contemporaries Yue Minjun and Ai Weiwei, playfully and astutely mocks the history and political events of the Cultural Revolution and Maoist China. Since 1991, Wang Shugang’s works are regularly seen in solo exhibitions in Germany and China.
Wang Shugang’s figurative sculptures have been influenced by both the Western art tradition and contemporary twentieth-century realism while also expressing Buddhist iconography combined with Chinese everyday culture. The artist generally uses only a few colors on his sculpture, painting them solid red, white, black or bronze. These colors have become a kind of language or a trademark of the artist. Typical of the work of Wang Shugang are the red “sweeping monks” and the “squatting” figures.
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April Pine
Image Source Richard Jefferson
April draws from her knowledge of both space and sculpture when creating new works. Considering how sculpture and installation works can react, exaggerate and celebrate their context.
A particular emphasis of research is in the progression of movement and how sculpture can alter and react according to a pedestrian viewpoint.
The act of making is central to her work, always creating prototypes, testing and exploring ways of fabricating conceptual ideas through models. Each variation of idea is tested and refined over a series of models in changing scale, material and detail to enable clarity and confidence in the final proposal.
April was recently awarded the $10,000 Clitheroe Mentorship award for Sculpture and has been mentored by New York artist Christian De Vietri. In 2017 April Pine also won the Sculpture by the Sea Bondi Peoples Choice Award with her work Trip I,II,III.
Pines work can be found in private and public collections throughout Australia, with her first international sales to Portugal and New Zealand.
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Rebecca Rose
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Rebecca Rose trained initially as a landscape designer. Her love of gardens and outdoor spaces sparked a desire to create art works for these arenas. Training under sculptor Theo Janssen during 1990-1993 Rose worked in bronze.
A desire to build larger pieces led her to exploring concrete as a medium. From 1995-2000 Rose completed five series of figurative works in concrete, now found in gardens throughout New Zealand. These include a gathering of nine sculptures at Government House, Wellington NZ.
Rose’s recent work has centred on the cyclic nature of life and humanities interconnectedness. In exploring these themes she has created abstract work using metals and alloys. These sculptures are found in collections in New Zealand, Internationally and in public spaces.
Rose and her partner Matt Chamberlain and their three children live and work from a dramatic home studio in Titirangi Auckland NZ.
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Peter Tilley
Image Source The Creator Incubator
After studying Ceramics (1973-75) and receiving a Certificate of Art (1978-79) from Newcastle School of Art and Design Peter Tilley completed a Master of Philosophy (Fine Art) at the University of Newcastle (2008-10), Doctor of Philosophy Fine Art (2015-18) at the same institution. He first exhibited with Brenda May in 1989 and his relationship with the Gallery, May Space, continued until the gallery closed in March 2022.
His sculptural practice has included ritualised ceramic vessels, still-life tableaux, figurative and non figurative works, small to human scale sculptures and wall mounted, mixed media works. These sculptures have formed part of the more than 35 Solo and 80 group exhibitions that he has participated in, including numerous Sculpture by the Sea Bondi and Cottesloe since 2004, SxS Aarhus Denmark 2009 and 2011. Working in small studio spaces throughout his career has determined the size of works he has made, plus he has grown accustomed to, and is comfortable working with objects from very small up to life-sized.
Generally, his sculpture continues the theme of utilising his own experience as the basis for the narrative. He tries to achieve a simplicity that is intuitively accepted, yet capable of complex layers of meaning. His inspiration stems from a range of influences, including Egyptian funerary culture, the destructive influence of the coal industry, and a concern for conservation which underpins everything.
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Clara Hali
Image Source Defiance Gallery
Clara Hali is an eminent sculptor working principally in bronze. Her sculpture predominantly explores themes concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the human form. Hali’s most recent figurative works are engaged in the practice of yoga, reflecting a desire to find balance and spirituality, while other more abstract work explores the landscape as a metaphor for humanity. The hips are sensuous and strong clusters of boulders and cubist torsos are reminiscent of spectacular rock escarpments.
Clara studied sculpture at the National Art School in Sydney and has been an influential lecturer in sculpture since 1988. She was a finalist in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2023.
Her work has been exhibited extensively and is represented in many collections in Australia and internationally, including, the Mitchell Art Collection, USA, Cottesloe City Council, Perth, Macquarie University, University of Sydney and private collections in Holland, Italy, New Zealand, Switzerland and the USA.
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Jean-Pierre Rives
Image Source Var-Matin
Jean-Pierre Rives turned to art full-time after his retirement from rugby in 1984. Art had been his passion since early boyhood, and he immersed himself in it with dedication that soon earned him critical acclaim. Rives' chosen media became painting and sculpture, which he took up when he was still a rugby player, after meeting a well-known French sculptor and Prix de Rome winner, Albert Feraud. The two men found a commonality of aesthetics, and Rives moved to a house not far away from Feraud's home in Bagneux. Many of Rives' earlier sculptures were created in Feraud's atelier, where both artists worked side by side. "He invited me to his studio, and I never got out," Rives told Hugh Schofield of the BBC. Rives considers Albert Feraud a great man and an inspiration. Another artist that inspired Rives' work is a Polish-born French painter Ladislas Kijno.
The bond between art and sport feels natural to Rives, as he believes that art and rugby can be interconnected, and emotions are found in both. "In sports you make movement and you are maybe sculpting or painting in the space with your body," he told Clara Iaccarino of the Sydney Morning Herald. "In art you use instruments. Art is just energy, you have to do it; it has to come out." He works in a disused railway shed in the north of Paris, where he forms and twists his found steel, manipulating the shapes created by the resulting positive and negative spaces. He cuts the beams strategically to form complex compositions in which the hardness of the steel forms a powerful juxtaposition to the soft curves. Rives' sculptures were called by the French La Dépêche du Midi "a marvelous mixture of suffering, grace and beauty".
Rives sees his paintings as the two-dimensional reflections of his sculptures. He uses the word "impression" to describe both the technique and the philosophy applied to his canvases. The impression is made by a mark or an indentation created by pressure, as if his sculptures were dipped in tar and paint and then pressed onto the surface of a canvas. This term "impression" also alludes to the effect the paintings produce on the viewer, and the feelings they evoke.
Jean-Pierre Rives' sculptures have been showcased at public venues around the world including the prestigious Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, a stone's throw from the classical Senate building, in 2002. This installation marked the first time sculptures were exhibited there since Auguste Rodin's exhibition more than a century ago. A widely attended and written about vernissage attracted many of France's powerful political and business leaders and, according to the influential Le Point, included "a pack of Rives' elite" – friends and collectors all – Serge Kampf, founder of Cap Gemini, Claude Bébéar, founder of AXA, Henri Lachmann, CEO of Schneider Electric, Jean-René Fourtou, Chairman of Vivendi, Pierre Dauzier, President of Havas and Thierry Breton Chairman of France Télécom and future Finance Minister. Other large scale shows included the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, an exhibition in the historically important Royal Park in Brussels, Belgium, in 2009, an exhibition in the 18th century sculpture garden Le Grand Rond in Toulouse, France, in 2010, an installation on the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in Manhattan, New York, in 2010, and a large-scale installation at the Musée des Jacobins in Auch, France in 2014, to name a few.
Jean-Pierre Rives' work is found in numerous private and public collections throughout the globe, including Musée du quai Branly in Paris, Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, also in Paris, and Asago Art Village Museum and Sculpture Garden in Asago, Japan, among many others. He is represented in the U.S. by the Serge Sorokko Gallery.
“Sculpture is just invention and energy, and rugby is energy too, and invention sometimes."
Jean-Pierre Rives
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Steve Tepper
Image source Anne Neil
Steve Tepper is a Fremantle-based sculptor, with a diverse practice that encompasses public art and design. Originally from South Australia, he gained a BA from the School of Art at Curtin University of Technology in 1992.
Since then, Tepper has exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in collections in Australia, Malaysia, South Korea and Switzerland. The scope of Tepper’s artworks range from low relief patterns integrated into structures, through to large three dimensional sculptures.
His work is engaging and versatile, and includes rich textures, intricate detail and bold statements.
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Mark Le Buse
Image source Australian Women’s Weekly
Mark Le Buse (born Allan Busey; September 7, 1917 - March 5, 1999) was a Hollywood prop maker, sculptor, and film actor.
After serving in the Navy as an electrician before World War II, and working as a shipfitter during it, Allan Busey found work in Hollywood, doing woodwork and prop construction for the major studios. He worked on several movies for Paramount, Including Shane, Elephant Walk, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, and 3 Ring Circus.
In 1954, he moved to Hawaii, to escape the Los Angeles smog. In addition to various odd jobs, such as driving a taxi, he began to carve sculptures in driftwood and black coral for the tourist market. After 1960, he sold out of a shop at the Kona Inn on the big island.
In the mid-1960s, he changed his name to Mark Le Buse on the advice of a Shinto priest, who gave him and his second wife Jill new names determined by numerology.
He was cast in small roles in 1964's Ride the Wild Surf, starring Fabian and Shelly Fabares, and multiple episodes of Hawaii Five-O in the late 1960s.
In 1971, Le Buse and his wife left Hawaii, intending to emigrate to New Zealand. Instead, they spent three years in the Philippines, where Le Buse acted in several low-budget thrillers, before ending up in Western Australia.
His artistic work in Australia included a series of approximately 48 limestone outdoor sculptures, most notably large-scale works for the Atlantis Marine Park near Perth, such as a ten-meter high Neptune with trident (which was Heritage listed by the Western Australia Heritage Council in 2006) and “the disembodied head of Jacques Cousteau.”
Peter Lundberg
Image Source The West Australian
Peter Lundberg is an internationally renowned American abstract sculptor who lives and works between Vermont, Beijing and Sydney. He has a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics at Skidmore College in New York, and was later awarded his Masters in Fine Arts in Sculpture at Bennington College, New York. Working between cast concrete and bronze, Lundberg’s practice is motivated by simple forms and patterns that come from nature.
For many of his large-scale concrete works, Lundberg experiments with new methods of casting by using the earth as an organic mold to create unpredictable raw forms, textures and edges. Through this process, his sculptures become intrinsically connected to place, as they are both inspired by and physically built from the natural elements of the landscape they occupy. Monumental in both size and weight, Lundberg’s sculptures rise out of the earth with an arresting presence and enter into the consciousness of the landscape.
His public sculptures are included in many important collections and Sculpture Parks around the world, featured in over 16 major cities such as New York, Quebec, Frankfurt, Berlin, Beijing, Shanghai and Sydney, as well as over 34 small town and regional public spaces. Since 2011, Lundberg’s work has been exhibited each year in Sculpture by the Sea in both Bondi, Sydney and Cottesloe, Perth, and was the recipient of the major Sculpture by the Sea Prize in 2012 for his work ‘Barrel Roll’ and in 2014 for ‘Ring’. In his most recent commission, Lundberg created a 40 foot-tall and 57 tonne concrete sculpture called ‘Standing man’ at the Australian Galleries Sculpture Park in Porcupine Ridge, Victoria.
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Rachelle Dusting
Image source Rachelle Dusting
Rachelle Dusting is a Perth-based artist and educator with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) from the University of Western Australia (2012) and a Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning Higher Education (2021). She furthered her studies in drawing at the New York Academy of Art Summer Workshop Series (2018). Rachelle’s studio is located at Goolugatup Heathcote Precinct, where she works on private commissions and runs The Painting School, offering self-paced oil painting classes for adults.
A finalist in the 2024 Basil Sellers Art Prize (NSW), 2023 Kennedy Art Prize (SA), and 2021 Kilgour Prize (Newcastle Art Gallery), Rachelle has also completed several large-scale commissions under the Percent for Art Scheme. These include a mural for Faith Community Church (2018), eight life-sized Catholic Saint portraits for Emmanuel Catholic College (2021), and perforated metal artwork for Providence Christian College’s primary school redevelopment (2022). Recently, she was commissioned to paint ten walls for the new Harvey Norman Commercial Division (WA). From 2016 to 2024, she was an active board member of the Mandorla Art Award, serving as Secretary and founding its social media team.
Rachelle held her first solo exhibition, Beauty in the Particular (2013), in Perth’s CBD and has participated in multiple group exhibitions across Australia. She was awarded a scholarship to The Art Academy (SA) in 2014, studying under Australian artist Robin Eley. In 2017, she assisted Eley in Los Angeles as an Artist in Residence, helping prepare The Binary Project for Gallery 101 Exhibit in West Hollywood. In 2024, she worked alongside renowned Sydney artist and 17-time Archibald finalist Paul Newton, further refining her portrait painting practice. She has also trained with Vincent Desiderio (Masterclass in Painting, 2017) and Roberto Osti (Figurative Drawing, NYAA, Tribeca).
In 2019, Rachelle founded The Artist Path, a global creative event series addressing common questions about artistic careers, with events held in Perth and Nashville. Her portrait commissions include influential Australians such as ultra-marathon swimmer Andy Donaldson, Thankyou co-founder Daniel Flynn, photographer Jarrad Seng, and artists Pippa McManus and Andrew Frazer. Her work is held in private collections of figures including Geoff Warn (With Architecture), Jane Wetherall (MD), Luke Shuey (West Coast Eagles Captain), Liza Harvey (former Deputy Premier & MP), Mark Coughlan (former WASO director), and Matt Taylor (former Member of Bateman).
Rachelle’s students have been selected for international programs such as UCLA’s Painting Summer School and recognized in major competitions, including The Lester Prize (2024), The Lester Prize Youth Award (2019, 2020, 2023), and the Shaun Tan Young Artist Award (2017, 2018). She has taught art incursions at over forty schools across Western Australia and was previously an Art Instructor at UWA (2014–2015). Her workshops have been held in partnership with Watoto International Uganda, Workshops AUS, Jacksons Drawing Supplies, and the Awesome Arts Regional Residency Program.
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Jon Denaro
Image source JahRox Galleries
West Australian sculptor Jon Denaro’s professional art practice spans 25 years including numerous solo shows, projects, commissions, grants, prizes and teaching positions.
Jon Denaro is passionate about using found objects that guide his creative journey to the unique art piece that results. It is the making process itself that Jon values most above and beyond the finished piece. This leaves the viewer with a sense of purity, as if the artworks are using Jon as a vessel to be created, to be seen, to take on a new life form.
Jon Denaro finished a BA Fine Arts in Hobart in 1989 and has enjoyed numerous solo and group exhibitions since. He has shared his knowledge in many mentor and teaching positions, and has contributed greatly to the Western Australian art scene with many public and private installations.
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Susanna Castleden
Image source Chevron Australia
Arising from an ongoing inquisitiveness about how the world is encountered and represented, Susanna is interested in how mobility changes the way we see and perceive the world, and how this has necessitated alternative ways of visualising our position within it. Recent projects explore mobility and mapping specifically associated with leisure travel, examining the phenomenon of mobility and what it means to be part of a world that, until 2020, was seemingly increasingly on the move. Working in drawing, printmaking and text based works Susanna creates large-scale works that often include sculptural or multi-part elements.
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Len Zuks
Image source City of Rockingham
Len has won numerous art awards in sculpture and painting throughout Australia over many years. Also winning the people’s choice award for Sculpture by the Sea in 2009.
Len has judged art competitions over several years and is currently a judge on the UWA Second Life virtual sculpture competition.
“Ridiculous is king! Most of my artworks have an element of quirk. Through exaggeration and bending reality, my artworks are able to access the ‘entertainment response files’ in a viewer’s mind. They move people. For me, as the artisan, the satisfaction of arranging discarded steel to evoke a living response is fantastic. My canvas expression is not pinned to any one style or direction. I follow the ever changing desires of my heart, inspiration and hands. This exhibition captures familial circumstances in country Western Australia. Recently my paintings have morphed into a viscous, riotous orchestra of colour and texture.”
Len Zuks 2018
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