1998Bachelor of Art Theory and History, College of Fine Arts,
University of NSW Australia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009Supplementary Restraint System, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2008On Hold, Melbourne Art Fair, Jan Murphy Gallery
Memeoid, ChalkHorse Gallery, Sydney
2007Panoply, ChalkHorse Gallery, Sydney
Security Blanket, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2005Stay on Message, Maunsell Wickes@BSG, Sydney
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place with Ben Quilty, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2004New Works, Maunsell Wickes@BSG, Sydney
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
200909 Sullivan and Strumpf, Sydney
2008Step Right Up! Albury Regional Art Gallery
Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, Woollahra Council Chambers
Sculpture 08, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2007Arc Biennale, Brisbane
Replicotta Warriors, Chalk Horse, Sydney
Sculpture 07, Maunsell Wickes@BSG, Sydney
2006New Social Commentaries 2006, Warrnambool Art Gallery
Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Sydney
The Green Zone, ½ dozen, The Palm House, Botanical Gardens, Sydney
Flamin’ Youth, Orange Regional Gallery
Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award (Finalist), Werribee
Sculpture By The Sea, Cottesloe
Artists Against Sedition Laws, Casula Powerhouse
2005McClelland Sculpture Survey and Award, Victoria
March of the Miniatures, Defiance Gallery, Newtown
Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, Woollahra Council Chambers
10th Anniversary Exhibition, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
Sculpture 2005, Maunsell Wickes@BSG, Sydney
2004Sculpture By The Sea, Bondi, Sydney
The Year in Art, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Sculpture 2004, Maunsell Wickes@BSG, Sydney
2003Sculpture By The Sea, Bondi, Sydney
Darling Park Sculpture Exhibition, Sydney
Hazlehurst Regional Gallery, Sydney
Ripdff, Flinders Hotel, Sydney
Flavour, Lidi Gallery, Sydney
2002Sculpture By The Sea, Bondi
Sculpture Inside, Bondi
Darling Park Sculpture Exhibition, Sydney
Thursday Plantation Sculpture Exhibition, Ballina
2000RFA Gallery, Sydney
Studio W Inaugural Exhibition, Sydney
SYMPOSIUMS / RESIDENCIES
2007Hanyu International Sculpture Cup, Shenzhen, China
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus Residency, Albury Regional Gallery
2006Creation Sculpture Symposium, Brisbane Art Festival
2005Invited Artist International Sculpture Symposium, Mount Gambier SA
2003Carlos III International Sculpture Symposium. Cordoba, Spain
2000Artist In Residence, Mosman Art Gallery
COMMISSIONS
2009St Ignatius’ College Riverview
2008Albury Regional Gallery
2006Allen and Unwin Publishing
2004The SXS Patron Series Artist
2000 Artist In Residence Mosman Art Gallery
Ecos Corporation Collection
1999Domain Corporation Group Collection
AWARDS
2008Special Commendation. Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize.
2006People’s Choice Award. The Helen Lempriere Sculpture Award
2005People’s Choice Award. Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize.
2004The AGNSW Director’s Choice Award
The Riverview Art Prize
2003 The AGNSW Director’s Choice Award. SXS
The John Fairfax Young Artist’s Subsidy, SXS
2002 The Australian Unrepresented Sculptor Award. SXS
The Young Sculptor’s Honorable Mention. SXS
Second Prize. Sculptor’s Society Darling Park.
COLLECTIONS
The Queensland University Art Museum
ArtBank
ARTS ACT Canberra Civic
Albury Regional Gallery
Pat Corrigan Collection
Balnaves Foundation Collection
Canberra Civic Collection
AGNSW Society Member’s Collection
The Danish Royal Art Collection
Newcastle University Art Collection
HBO Collection, New York
Omereck Collection, France.
Sheraton Hotel Collection, Sydney
Private collections Australia and Abroad
Biography/Statement
Alex Seton is an Australian artist from Sydney NSW. Alex’s artwork has earned a growing reputation based upon producing carved marble and synthetic stone sculptures that play on optical illusion and the perception of surface. The work uses the tension and often contradiction between the traditional laborious skill of carving and use of contemporary subject matter and concerns. It is that contradiction that opens the door to questions of the nature of choice, whether it be to satirize the 'empire making’ nature of the monumental and questioning the currency of political intimidation (such as in 'Panoply' 2007) or personal armor (such as in 'On Hold' 2008). It is in the outrageously implausible realization of concrete barriers, couches, toffee apples, beanbags and doonas, that the possible is called to account.
Alex graduated from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales. He has exhibited in numerous Australian national exhibitions over the years, including Arc Biennale, Queensland 2007, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi four times since 2002, the McClelland Sculpture Survey 2005, The Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award 2006 and New Social Commentaries 2006, Warrnambool Art Gallery. Seton has participated in group shows such as the 2007 Hanyu International Sculpture Cup, in Shenzhen in China, Carlos III International Symposium in Cordoba, Spain. He has had a number of solo shows, including both 'Security Blanket' at Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane, and 'Panoply' at Chalk Horse Gallery, in 2007, and Memeoid at Chalk Horse in 2008. His work is featured in a number of major national and international collections, including Artbank Australia, and The Danish Royal Art Collection
Additional Statement:
Marble is the most ‘plastic’ yet conceptually ‘concrete’ of all mediums. Its historical connotations to headless gods and goddesses of old, to the monuments of empire make it perfect to toy around with in a modern context. This gives me the ability to both deceive and surprise. I’ll often create tactile illusions that the medium affords to reset the question ‘what am I looking at, and why?’. The act of carving is a deliberate and time consuming act that can often undercut the efficacy of personal expression, but while frustrating naturally leads to questions of states of being.
These recent artworks are worked carefully to recreate a sense of tension and release, to exist within two states at once, up/down, on/off, open/closed. I have always enjoyed the deliberate interplay of material, its history and language, with personal expression that sculptural forms afford, the questions that arise as a result.
