JOHN GARDNER
CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE WALL RELIEF
John Gardner not only absorbs the culture in which he lives, but also investigates other cultures and successfully combines aspects of these disparate ideas. He uses his images for resolution between cultures, ideas, and gender. He combines iconic representations of the natural world with shapes and symbols from ancient and modernist concepts and philosophies. While his aesthetic is modern, he lends qualities of the poetic and mythical to his geometric, monumental forms. He draws on the art of ancient civilizations, totemic indigenous ritual art forms, and contemporary artforms. The technical combination of bronze, stainless steel, glass, aluminium, granite and sandstone constantly refer the viewer to archetypal references and impart an aesthetic that has universal appeal.
The sculptor undertakes the creative process knowing all connections between idea and object must be made and remade throughout the work. Furthermore, John Gardner is aware that while the work comes into being at a certain point in linear time, perceptions of the work will subsequently evolve or be modified as circumstances change.
Gardner uses the language of form, space and surface in making silent works that speak loudly as comprehensive ideas. Harmony, balance and rhythm. Gardner's work explores these concerns through a highly organised visual language. On another level, the viewer is encouraged to look outside the physical representation of the object into a metaphysical realm where other meanings are adduced.
