A QUT visual arts technician and contempory artist who has never done a public artwork before has scooped one of Australian sculpture’s most sought-after prizes – a $250,000 commission for the latest massive iconic artwork alongside Melbourne’s Peninsula Link freeway.
Michael Riddle, who is also studying a Master of Fine Arts at QUT, has been awarded the Southern Way McClelland Commission to create Iconoclast – a 10-metre high sculpture loosely based on the form of an electricity pylon which has become absurdly mangled under the weight of a large boulder.
The contemporary sculptor joins an elite club, with the Peninsula Link public art program commissioning just 14 sculptures over 25 years until 2037.
After the four year cycle of display on the Peninsula Link freeway, each Southern Way McClelland Commission then becomes part of McClelland’s permanent sculpture collection.
“This is my first public art commission and I am thrilled to have been selected for this extraordinary public art program,” Mr Riddle said.
“It is a tremendous privilege to have an opportunity to work on a project of monumental scale, and for it to ultimately be a part of the permanent collection of the McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery.”
Mr Riddle works fulltime with QUT’s renowned Creative Industries Faculty as a visual arts technician where he helps more than 100 visual arts students.
“My primary role is to assist and guide the students through what they’re doing; basically I am there to demonstrate the processes and how the tools work and the machinery,” he said.
He is also half-way through a Master of Fine Art at QUT, which is now likely to incorporate the creation of Iconoclast.
Iconoclast will build on one of his previous series of work, Everything’s Broken. Three elements will make up the work – the tower, the boulder and a series of cables that drape to the ground on either side. Both the tower and cables will be illuminated at night.
The Southern Way McClelland Commission received 86 submissions for the latest sculpture from Australian and international artists.
Mr Riddle, who lives at Mount Nebo on the outskirts of Brisbane, said he anticipated much of the $250,000 would be taken up with the mechanics of bringing his work to life on such a big scale.
“We’ll have cranes and trucks and there’ll have to be a structural engineer overseeing it … it’s going to be a big process,” he said.
The sculpture will be installed at the Peninsula Link’s Skye Road exit (near Frankston) in May 2017.
Funding for the Peninsula Link sculptures is donated by Southern Way.
Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1150 or media@qut.edu.au
- Rose Trapnell, QUT media team leader, 07 3138 2361 or (after hours) 0407 585 901
