2011 - 2012 Hong Kong
Identity Art Gallery A Delicate Balance The bliss of solitude and Half hidden shadows, 2011, are sculptural manifestations of Penjing and its relationship with Chinese landscape painting. Terry Batt pushes the boundaries of bronze casting techniques and uses patination to delineate landscape elements in a painterly way. Batt’s sculptural practice turns a full circle in these two works. His use of everyday objects and old paintbrushes combined with roughly painted and carved timber in the early works has been replaced by a sense of permanency and more subtle detailing. The previously ephemeral look of his sculpture has progressed to look timeless and aged. Traditional Chinese brushes have been cast in bronze and placed horizontally or vertically to form an integral part of an imagined ‘Oriental’ landscape. For Batt, there is the urge to take familiar objects and imbue them with new life and meaning. This process could also point to his experiences as a Western artist living and working in Asia and the idea of a co-location of or with the Other. Deeply interested in the relationship between man and nature and the implications of living in a ‘global cosmopolis’ these small but powerful icons are based on order, balance and control as part of a wider understanding of the importance of nature’s restorative powers. These are qualities that contemporary modern Hong Kong and China (as so often elsewhere) are, to the planet’s detriment, proving increasingly in short supply. The bliss of solitude, 2011 bronze 16 x 17 x 10 cm |