Platform: Alex Seton

The fact that these works are reminiscent of public works of art, yet are built on a personal scale allows Seton to create a more intimate narrative. These kneeling, fragmentary figures resist the grand gestures of the historically powerful with their intimate humour and anthropomorphised boulders. These figures are partly representative of the often overlooked and marginalised, who are rarely immortalised in the public square. In the eternal stasis of disadvantage, stone emphasises and bears witness to their existence.

Running parallel to this is the notion that these figures, suspended in the stone, are toying with the history of more traditional sculpture as well as more contemporary notions of figuration. They are examples of an artist not just engaging with his audience and contemporary society, but one who is doing so while examining the history of the medium in which he works. 

Despite the aforementioned emphasis on the private, Seton likes the idea that these works, due to their AR component, could find a home in public spaces too. Whilst such spaces supposedly reflect our shared values, the art they house is often incongruous with the voice of the public now. The Augmented Reality features return the work to the people, allowing them to digitally place a statue wherever they choose, ultimately bridging the gap between public and private. 

About Alex Seton

Alex Seton is an artist working in sculpture, photography, video and installation, best known for his use of marble carving. Throughout his practice he has used the techniques and languages of classical statuary and monument, playing with, inverting and exaggerating them to create works that reflect on the contemporary world. Recent work engages directly with contemporary political issues, such as Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers, and questions of conflict and nationhood. Through his work, Seton attempts to grapple the grander narrative through a humanist lens.

Seton has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. Solo exhibitions include  The Great Escape, Goulburn Regional Gallery (2020); Once There, Sullivan+Strumpf, Singapore (2019); Cargo, Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney (2018); Monument, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney (2017); Alex Seton: The Island, Newcastle Art Gallery (2017); Someone Else's Problem, Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks (2015); As of Today, Australian War Memorial, Canberra (2014-15), Last Resort, touring McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Langwarrin, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne & Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton (2014-15), Refoulement, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney (2014); and Roughing Out, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, Sydney (2013).

Recent group exhibitions include touring regional exhibition Safe Space (2018-2021); Hope Dies Last, Art at the End of Optimism; Gertrude Contemporary (2019); Love, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre (2019); Art Basel Hong Kong, Sullivan+Strumpf, (2019); 2019 Annual Group Show, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney; All We Can’t See, Yellow House, Sydney (2018); I Was Here, Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia (2017); Less than – art and reductionism, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane (2017); Contemporary Talents prize winners exhibition, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France (2017); Countercurrents, Samstag Museum, Adelaide (2017); Young & Free | An Australian Discourse, Bega Valley Regional Gallery (2017); Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2016); Contour 556, Canberra Public Art Festival (2016); Sealed Section, Artbank, Sydney (2014-15); Gifted Artists: Donations by Patrick Corrigan AM, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2014); Conflict: Contemporary Responses to War, University of Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2014); and Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Dark Heart, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2014).