Wayne Markwort - Artists Statement.

I make sculpture, painting and drawing in a variety of media and materials.

Stone,Bronze, steel, fibreglass and spraycan. Themes in my work range from mythology both contemporary and ancient, religion, culture and the human condition. Influences include fatherhood, war, fear and hope.

Narrative is an important aspect of my ideas. I work within the modernist ideal ofthe artist being at the heart of his or her work, with the expression of self and personal responses to everything as the most important element. Narrative can beobvious and explicit in some of my more vociferous pieces, a plain and obvious dialogue on religion, war etc. In some cases the narrative is held within the material of the work, the emotional response and the dialogue that takes place on a more subtle plane.

In some of my larger scale installations I’ve had a greater freedom to explore the ensuing narrative by using combinations of materials within the figurative forms.

I have worked across a wide range of creative projects, starting in Public Art, making large scale stone and steel artworks, working in international symposia and exhibiting in public art spaces aswell as commercial galleries.

My latest work has been aimed more directly at exhibiting and galleries and is a honing of all the extremes of previous work, travel and experiences.

Bronzes based in Greek Mythology and Manga imagery carry my notions of hope and its burden, notions of nature and its forces, notions of falling and dreaming and looking to the skies... fly away.

I have come to Australia to establish this commercial work here, to set up a small bronze foundry, to look for gallery representation and to sell artwork. The space and time and stillness of rural Australia is something I need to instill in my work and to use the exotic material difference from the UK as a charging and inspirational influence.

The challenge of new stone, of new ways of working, of adaption and exploring the new fires up the old narratives and changes the perspective to make new work from established ideas and identity.

The outsider looking in is a common idea in expressionist art. To evaluate your ideas, to communicate your take on the ordinary and extraordinary, to connect to an audience with empathy and the need for a dialogue. This is the importance
of art and artists contribution to our cultural and spiritual make up.

Art is as important an expressive medium as film, poetry or music but is so often diluted by design or function. It is my mission to continue to create artwork with narrative and self expression, to open dialogues and ideas and to challenge things which are maybe taken for granted. If people will look....