HAZELHURST REGIONAL GALLERY & ARTS CENTRE
Installation. Photo: Silversalt
Left – right Louise Olsen Inky Series 2017, cast resin, installation Stephen Ormandy Unsquare Dance 2014, oil on linen, Private Collection Stephen Ormandy Totem Series 2017, cast resin (detail) Photo: Silversalt
Left – right Stephen Ormandy Rooster 2016, oil on linen, Private Collection Stephen Ormandy Totem Series 2016, cast resin Louise Olsen Inky Series 2017, cast resin, installation Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Series 8: Movement 2011, cast resin (detail) Photo: Silversalt
Left – right Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Series 8: Movement 2011, cast resin (detail) Louise Olsen Inky Series 2017, cast resin, installation Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Dragonflys nest 2017, cast resin Photo: Silversalt
Moon Tables Dinosaur Designs expanded into ‘house jewellery’, as Louise affectionately calls it, in 2013. Louise’s Liquid Moon tables became a canvas for her to experiment with different colour palettes which are cast into oneof-a-kind tables. Louise explains: “People frequently ask where we get our inspiration from, and in many cases one idea leads to another. For instance the Moon collection followed Sun. Once you get on the thread of an idea, it almost takes you by the hand and leads you. You start thinking of the next collection when you are finishing the one you are working on. The Moon Tables were created later, but bounced back to the Moon collection and took it that bit further again.”
Foreground: Louise Olsen Moon Table (Moon Table Series I-V) 2016 cast resin Background: Stephen Ormandy You are here 2014, oil on linen, Private Collection (detail) Photo: Silversalt
Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Moon Series, cast resin Photo: Silversalt Opposite: Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Moon Series detail
Stephen Ormandy’s paintings and sculptures are inspired by the natural world. The foundation of his painting is a strong design element together with a great understanding of the nuance and potential of colour and form. He works with solid colour and soft organic shapes which bounce off each other, creating an enduring vibrancy. This series of totems in the artists’ signature resin were originally developed for London Design Week 2016. While developing new vases, Ormandy saw an opportunity to push the boundaries and create larger sculptural forms from interconnected pieces, and as the pieces grew they embodied the characteristics of totem poles. These larger works explore the relationships of form and colour, with a focus on the variation of line and the interplay of bold solid colours which repel and attract.
Left – right Stephen Ormandy Rooster 2016, oil on linen, Private Collection Stephen Ormandy Totem Series 2016, cast resin Stephen Ormandy You are here 2014, oil on linen, Private Collection Photo: Silversalt
Collarbone Series The Collarbone series debuted in a solo exhibition at Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne in 2014. The artists created the works around the concept of ‘oversize’, as these giant necklaces demonstrate, to reinforce the sculptural elements of their work. “We were really excited about this exhibition, as we would be working purely as artists, which is of course how we started out”, said Olsen and Ormandy of the 2014 exhibition. “By this point we had refined a wide range of techniques for working with resin, as we’d been doing it for so many years, and that gave us an enormous amount of freedom to create large sculptural forms.”
Left – right Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Collarbones I 2016, cast resin, acrylic rope Stephen Ormandy Totem Series 2016, cast resin Photo: Silversalt
We apply the same principles in our art as in our design practice, but with a greater sense of freedom. We tackle each project the way you would tackle a painting or a drawing, really following your eye and allowing those accidents and developments to happen.
- Stephen Ormandy
Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Collarbones III 2016, cast resin, acrylic rope
Left – right Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Loopy (Loop Series) 2014, cast resin Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Collarbones II 2016, cast resin, acrylic rope Louise Olsen Moon Tables (Moon Table Series I-V) 2016 cast resin Stephen Ormandy Search Light 2012, oil on linen, Private Collection Photo: Silversalt
Stephen Ormandy What a relief! 2016, pigmented acrylic on routed plywood Photo: Silversalt
Series 8: Movement This series of eight resin platters are the largest single cast works ever created by Dinosaur Designs. These disks in dazzling colours were commissioned to mark the fifth anniversary of Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), part of the Queensland Art Gallery.
“It was a chance for us, as artists, to experiment with castings on a grand scale. We looked back to our DNA to create new works referencing the moon, the sun, and the sea.”
Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Series 8: Movement 2011, cast resin Left – right About Time, Soul Flower, Walking on the Moon, Liquid Sky, Solar Flare, Liquid Landscape, Sea Garden, Sun Photo: Silversalt
Stephen Ormandy Stick Up 2016/2017, cast resin Photo: Silversalt
Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Waterfall 2017, cast resin Photo: Silversalt
Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Dragonflys nest 2017, cast resin Detail opposite. Photos: Silversalt
Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Series 8: Movement 2011, cast resin Detail opposite Louise Olsen & Stephen Ormandy Sun (from Series 8: Movement) 2011 Photo: Silversalt
Images courtesy the Artists and Silversalt Photography Inside spread Stephen Ormandy Unsquare Dance 2014 (detail)