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Andrew Steiner - Sculptor
Adelaide may boast a small Jewish community, but it has its fair share of
outstanding personalities. One such person is Andrew Steiner, and recently,
I was delighted to have spent some time talking to him about his art works.
He found his "true calling" in sculpture when he was introduced to its
techniques and possibilities by a friend in 1973. He subsequently attended
woodcarving classes in London as well as in Adelaide. Over the past 30 years
he has had solo exhibitions in Paris, Budapest, Veszprem, Canberra, Sydney,
Melbourne and Adelaide. His first commission was for a Catholic Church in
the form of a life-size carving of a Mother and Child. Stained glass windows
adorn the two synagogues in Adelaide. In both venues the stained glass is an
integral feature of the architecture. In both venues the religious content
of the work serves the dual purpose of beautifying the house of worship and
enlightening worshipers to aspects of the religion.
Stained glass as a medium is one aspect of this versatile artist who draws,
paints, and produces bronzes and woodcarvings. However, timber is his medium
of choice. He is passionate about working with Huon Pine in particular,
because, in his words, "It is quite a wondrous feeling to have that
association and the privilege to touch this ancient material". He has an
intricate knowledge of the wood, and I learned much about its nature and the
significance of the wood for him when I interviewed him at his studio in
March 2003. Named by the French explorer Count Huon, it is found exclusively
in Tasmania and grows only about one centimeter every 100 years. The pieces
the artist uses are all long dead and fallen - some of them could be as much
as 50,000 years old. At first, the pieces are stained, gnarled and cracked,
but after months of hard labour and dedicated attention, one sees the total
transformation of the wood. The result is a magnificent silky-smooth
honey-coloured finish. Natural cracks and blemishes within the wood are
retained as a feature of the final work.
Dance
The kinship that the artist has with this material can be perceived in the
way he expresses his love for this "remarkable, absolutely unique material"
and the honest way in which he realizes the three-dimensional forms that
emerge from it.
The bases are an intrinsic part of his work as they are carefully considered
forms, each one complementing the sculpture that rests on it in a
harmonious, symbiotic relationship. Physical movement is a feature that he
often incorporates, and by doing so, the viewer can interact with the work
by influencing its position in space, and playing with the shapes and
shadows.
The sculptures are inviting to the senses. The artist encourages people to
touch. There is an irresistible urge to caress the highly finished surfaces.
Some of the sculptures make a sound as they are moved - beyond the visual
and the sense of touch, the artist plays with the viewer's sense of hearing.
The sense of smell is also engaged because the natural oils within the wood,
protecting it from rot and vermin, produce a musty perfume.
Ode to Nature
He works with only hand tools and has an unusual selection of special tools,
some that he has made, some that have been made for him by friends. He can
spend many months on a large piece. Sometimes people ask: did you find the
wood like this? It is a popular but no doubt frustrating question and one
that even I could not resist asking. His response is an emphatic "definitely
not" and to clarify the point, he refers to the work "Homage" as an example.
Excluding the base, this work has had 35 kgs of material removed from it.
"After having removed all that material, after having spent many months
doing it, yes it is all there within the material which had to be released".
"I go and collect the wood myself, and select every piece that I feel has
got something special to emerge, to reveal, and that's how it starts. They
are very hard to come by, expensive, and in short supply. But over the years
I have built up a reserve that really, regrettably, I just won't be able to
use it all".
I saw what he considers to be his most important work. It is a powerful
bronze sculpture made using the ancient lost wax process, called "Zachor
Hashoa" (Remember the Holocaust). It is a work that should be snapped up by
the Adelaide Jewish Museum - if only we had the funds for such an
acquisition. As a child survivor of the Holocaust, he says it is a subject
that is with him everyday. This work was produced to recall and honour the
Jewish victims of the Shoa. Six emaciated skeletons, indistinguishable as
either male or female, in total anguish and hopelessness, stand on top of
the world. Each figure represents one million innocent victims that perished
while the world looked the other way. This work is going to the Melbourne
Holocaust Museum for permanent exhibition.
The artist is inspired by nature. The organic, enlivened contours of his
carvings suggest an affinity and bond with the natural world. For me, his
work exudes a sense of the spiritual, even the secular work with no overt
references to the Torah or its teachings. The sculptures are evocative: at
times the abstract-like shapes and contours suggest figurative forms, and
sometimes simultaneously, they also seem anthropomorphic.
We can easily engage with the sculptures formal qualities, their shape,
texture, negative and positive spaces and sense of movement. Mostly, the
viewer is left to come to his or her own conclusions about the content of
the works, guided by the suggestive titles. Each viewer brings to the works
a unique interpretation. Explanations of content by the maker often tend to
produce a finite reading of a work. Contemplating his sculptures in a
meditative manner is perhaps the key to unlocking the mysteries of its
meaning.
If I were back in my former post as curator of an art gallery, I would have
signed up a retrospective exhibition with Andrew Steiner without question.
Cuddle
Roslyn Sugarman, Curator Adelaide Jewish Museum
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