On a Wing and a Prayer - Group Show featuring Geoffrey Ricardo, Steve Cox, Geoff Harvey, Peter Baka & Grant Parke - Friday 9 September - Saturday 1 October 2022

Artist's Statement

The works in this group deal with individuals pressed to their limits – whether refugee, prisoner, criminal, or saintly martyr. The vulnerability of the human experience is what binds us all together. We are adrift on an uncertain sea, at the mercy of unpredictable currents.  Love is all we need. The optimistic old gods look at our efforts, and smile.

Artist's Statement

Renowned for his quirky idiosyncratic dog sculpture, artist Geoff Harvey is attempting to defy gravity with this new exhibition. From an odd assortment of found objects, he has assembled an elegant flock of birds. His skill at capturing the birds is uncanny. Some appear to soar high on thermal updrafts around the gallery, while others are content to float on an imaginary lake. The swan with its cygnet offspring are crafted lovingly from musical instruments. This double meaning work is particularly poignant for Harvey because he is also an accomplished musician.

Artist's Statement

On the Threshold

I was flying into Adelaide, the city rich and golden amid the reflections and refractions of sunsetʼs glow. A small boy appeared there, outside, kneeling on a metallic wing of the descending plane. He was there, without me thinking it, shining, his little hands clasped in fervent prayer. Amid the turmoil of my sad and seemingly final filial obligations, l felt the vital quickening of meaningful recognition: an image that wordlessly communicates something essential, like Love or Necessity, and then at last, feeling finally flows free. I was unsure of what the future held, after many years of living and art making in and near Sydney, but as l stepped off the plane l was strangely reconciled to my precarious path.

Artist's Statement

Dreams of Flight

ornithopter – machine designed to fly by the flapping of its wings in imitation of birds.
Although a few short flights have been recorded, ornithopters remain impractical.

To those who saw the possible in the impossible.
To those who dared to dream.
To the birds and bats that were the seed.
To those that took a leap.
And those whose leap was judged a flight.
To those dreamers who dared to fly.