30 June
SCULPTURE
John Newling
(born 1952)
Shelter, 1984,
lead, steel and wax
h 35.6, w 69, d
40 cm Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1989
There is a certain
serenity to Shelter and a certain ambiguity
about the work at the same time. A shelter is a safe place, but
implies that it is a haven from something that isn't safe. This
is,
perhaps, the reason why Newling has constructed the house-
like part of the work out of wax. - a material which is
changeable,
malleable and ultimately vulnerable. The other elements of the
work are made of lead and steel. Not only is lead poisonous, but
is it not the material which has been notoriously used to line
atomic fallout shelters?
