PLAYING STATUES

BLACKARTPROJECTS & SEAN EDWARD WHELAN PRESENT

PLAYING STATUES B L A C K blackartprojects ABN 19 223 523 412 blackartprojects.com.au +61 (0) 438 007 541

PLAYING STATUES Sean Edward Whelan is an Australian artist based in Niigata Japan. He is inspired by the contemporary culture of Japan and the steadfast traditions that permeate its society, post disaster. Playing Statues is a series of fictional conflicts that feature weighty, traditional monoliths and colourful playground equipment of Japan. Rendered as a single freeze frame - an allusion to the film works of special effects mastermind Eiji Tsuburaya - these drawings are meticulously detailed and colossal in narrative. Whelan considers himself a passive observer of these battles and a mere conduit in the telling of their story.

Despite being their creator, he concedes he has no understanding of the outcome in each, as he is recording only a moment of confrontation.

Yet, these works speak of impending change. They address the tug-of-war between our insatiable hunger for progression and the significance of tradition. However, as the next frame of the film never flicks over, as a statue never moves, we are left asking if indeed it is possible for these contradictions to ever truly co-exist.

Passers by (2013) sumi ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 76 x 56 cm

The great escape (2013) sumi ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 76 x 56 cm

Nothing sacred (2013) sumi ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 76 x 56 cm

Sirens (2013) sumi ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 76 x 56 cm

Different ways of seeing things (2013) sumi ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 76 x 56 cm

Ebb and flow (2013) sumi ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 76 x 56 cm

Island (2013) sumi ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 76 x 56 cm

A Pagoda (2013) sumi ink, watercolour and pencil on paper 76 x 56 cm

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