sculpture : less is more

For Hew Chee Fong… A sculptor’s dream come true

2011-08-08T18:06:00.001+10:00

EVERY SCULPTOR who works in stone or marble dreams of visiting Italy’s renowned Carrara. That dream has now come true for talented Hinterland stone sculptor, Hew Chee Fong who is this year’s recipient of the Noosa Stone Sculpture Bequest.

The Bequest is a national biennial award administered by Sunshine Coast Council and generously funded by an anonymous donor.

The bequest will send Fong to Carrara, on the north western coast of Italy at the end of the year for a two- month workshop residency in the renowned Studio Corsanini.

Fong talked to HT Editor, Michael Berry at his acreage hilltop studio retreat near Peachester.

“I had always known since high school that I would express myself through my hands. I knew it meant art school but I wasn’t sure what genre I would take to. Eventually, I turned towards sculpture and that’s where I have found my niche.”

Born in Malaysia , Fong immigrated to Australia in the 80‘s and now lives on a stunning hillside property with his partner and four children. The approach to his massive studio below their home reveals huge natural rocks and slabs of stone standing abstractly against a breathtaking landscape that looks towards Moreton Bay.

Fong is a dedicated sculptor whose works

have a respected place in the ranks of public art. But it is public art that funds his private practice and gives him the leisure to indulge delightful flights of fancy in stone and found objects.

“I know that stone is my passion. I love the medium and I have always worked with stone. It must be saying something to me. I suppose I would describe myself as an intuitive sculptor because I don’t always start out with a clear-cut concept.”

The two month residential stay in Carrara will be a challenge for Fong who until now has predominantly worked in granites and basalt, “ it will be interesting to learn the techniques associated with marble carving” He is an artist, who works, not so much from detailed 3D drawings but from a mental image which he refines as he progresses.

The bequest has given him the theme of Life’s Emotions which coincides with the way he approaches his material.

I think stone elicits such strong emotional responses,” he says, “and implies all things of an enduring nature – stability, dependability, both timelessness and the passage of time.

“While I am in Carrara I hope to choose a piece from the studios or go to other studios or the quarry, and I will know it when I see it. I have two months. It isn’t long particularly as I will be tempted to race off to Florence or to Rome,” he laughs.

Fong is quick to downplay the glamorous image of the successful artist.”

“I think sculptors are essentially plodders … we are the lumberjacks of the art world,” he adds with more laughter. “It’s very physical work and you have to treat it as a 9-5 job. You’re not inspired every day of course, but when you are, you can work solidly for days and family life is put on hold.

But I love doing what I am doing,so it does not seem like work, just another challenge! If I stay away from it too long, I miss the smell of cutting stone, and just getting dirty.”

There are flashes of whimsy about Fong’s recent pieces, like the combination of an old Bakelite phone hand piece with a stone base, or a kitchen whisk set into stone, and his packed studio reflects his quirkiness with objects like sewing machines, kitchen appliances, cutlery and old carpenters’

tools. While completed works may incorporate everyday objects, Fong prefers not to label his work, wanting the audience to decide a theme or subject. “Its a new direction in my work that I’m exploring to see If I can successfully combine the now defunct objects from the past with the natural stone?”

“I do like the abstract because I think it gives the audience room to move. They can fill in the gaps.”

Fong has chosen not to be represented by a single private gallery, mainly because his work often requires more space than a private gallery can provide. However, he does exhibit in public galleries such as Redcliffe Regional Art Gallery, University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery, and Noosa Regional Gallery and his sculptures have been acquired for public collections.Fong is philosophical about a lucrative career in stone, “With the arts, it’s always feast or famine, but you always budget

Fong is philosophical about a lucrative career in stone, “With the arts, it’s always feast or famine, but you always budget for bad times ahead.” He certainly regards the Noosa Bequest as one of the good times providing a stimulating two months in Italy with his partner Loretta. He will bring the sculpted piece back to his studio if it needs finishing, then it will be installed in the Noosa Botanical Gardens.

“It’s going to be a fantastic opportunity to soak up the stone culture with all like-minded people. We are very fortunate on the Sunshine Coast to have a very generous patron to be donating funds for this bequest—tailored for all stone sculptors. In years to come this unique Botanic Gardens will be filled with different interpretations of the theme bound by the exclusive use of Carrara marble.

“Sculpture and public art in particular allows me to play around with bigger stones and more importantly, affords me the luxury/opportunity to express and explore ideas on a larger scale without having to worry about budgets. It’s wonderful,” adds this highly accomplished artist.

This is a cut and paste of an article posted in the Hinterland Times.

some news

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If you’d like to find out more… follow the link below

http://www.noosastonebequest.org.au/news/winner-2011-noosa-stone-sculpture-bequest

vessel

2007-08-13T08:28:00.000+10:00

'vessel' © Hew Chee Fong

basalt, granite and timber

139cm high x 38cm wide x 30 cm depth

A simple piece toying with shapes and balance.

keystone

2007-08-08T15:44:00.000+10:00

'keystone' © Hew Chee Fong

Basalt, granite and steel

61 cm high x 37.5 cm wide x 40 cm depth

This is a sort of 'mojo' rock. This could be read as me attempting to unlock the secrets of stone.

gossip

2007-08-05T15:25:00.000+10:00

'gossip' © Hew Chee Fong

basalt and water

20cm high x 60 cm wide x 53 cm depth

I've decided to call this piece 'gossip'.

Why?
It acknowledges the importance of communal meeting places of bygone eras in our society and ones that still exist today in parts of the third world. The enforced ritual of getting water and communal bathing strengthened the bonds within communities. Women gossiped when they washed their clothes, bathed their children and waited for their water pots to fill up. Today we have the convenience of running water in our own homes at the cost of being strangers to everyone else.

what does this remind you of ?

2007-07-22T12:44:00.000+10:00

I worked on this piece of basalt about 6 weeks ago; got a flight of stairs carved out as though coming up from the basement. Then yesterday, I marked it out and started cutting into it.

Looking at this photograph reminds me of flying over a desert, occasionally coming across man made structures, boundary fences and mysterious calligraphy like markings. I think there is something there, a new idea to explore.

This piece of basalt was excavated from our property while we were constructing our house. It has a lovely natural brown skin/outer coating-perhaps caused by the mineral content of the soil on our mountain; yet the inside is an even, deep blue tone with a tight grain.

I like working with found material, whenever a piece is not "precious" I am automatically freed up from the guilt of making mistakes, taking chances and experimenting.

Half the time this is where new and fresh ideas originate from; so go on- pick up a rock and have a go at carving!

stairway to heaven

2007-07-22T12:38:00.000+10:00

There's been lots of interruptions these past two weeks, so it's been difficult to get into the right mind set. But I've finally got to the top- a total of 42 steps. The last 10 were a real challenge: narrow, with awkward angles to negotiate. I will leave this piece for a few weeks to allow for some detachment time and think about what finishes and textures to use.This is a view from the top looking back down into the block.

Below is another view of the block standing up as it is intended.The natural texture of the granite surface will be kept as this contrasts beautifully with the cut and processed areas.
This is an important aspect of my work/concepts/aesthetics.
To me; leaving at least some of materials' natural (original) surface is a sign of respect for its history and character-to which I'm just adding with the lightest possible touch.

How does this sculptor sketch?

2007-07-17T11:45:00.000+10:00

I do not draw, per say. My drawing process takes place in my head, juxtaposing shapes and forms. When I do put pencil to paper, it's to either work out geometry and calculations or a quick doodle to remind me of that thought or idea. Instead, I prefer to rely on gut instinct and intuition to guide me, the initial feeling or thought is always the most important and if there is something I've learnt over the years, it's always that first spark that speaks truest.

I often go on walks to seek boulders to have a conversation with. Don't laugh...have you ever wondered why for example, on a long stretch of beach full of shells, pebbles and driftwood etc you will find you inevitably bend down to pick up a piece or two. Why those pieces? They must obviously be saying something to you through their form, colour, texture etc.

I found this piece and it said to me, "stand me up and I'll give you tension and percariousness".With a section already missing, it was the ideal situation to carve some steps- emphasing the journey; the PASS. If I had carved this from scratch, there would be cut marks and chisle marks above the steps, which I think will take away from the work and make it unconvincing.

This is just a quick study... a jotting down of ideas. I think it works.

bustin' out

2007-07-07T12:20:00.001+10:00

During the week I got nine steps carved out. To quicken the process I cored two holes through the block because I want the steps going all the way through a 'cave like' effect...bursting out through the top. These process photos show the work lying down, but it is meant to be a vertical piece.

Now it's really starting to get fiddly, the slot or channel I'm working in is only 9.5 centimeters wide. the degree of difficulty is increasing as I go into the block. I'm trying to get my equipment and meaty little fingers in there...
Where there's a will there's a way! Now I've got 13 steps-smokin'.
Steps area wonderful, wonderful symbolic device to use. To me they convey, the journey, striving to attain. So simple yet powerful.

secret men's business

2007-06-30T17:30:00.000+10:00

Started a new piece this week,in grey granite.
It will be titled "Pilgrimage to Muktinath"
I don't normally work in this fashion, ie a set 'preconceived' notion, however this idea has been knocking around in my head for awhile and screaming to be realised.
Normally I work intuitively or instinctively.
Muktinath is a little village high up in the mountains of Nepal. It is about the half-way point on the Annapurna trekking circuit, a holy place!
This piece is about faith and the journey.

Oliver snuck up on me and took this shot, I love it! Looks like some secretive process...thus the posting title.

Will probably only require the 4 inch diamond blade and the air hammer above to execute this piece.Till the next posting, happy granite dust!

tightrope

2007-06-26T09:50:00.000+10:00

'tightrope' (work in progress)
© Hew Chee Fong

I normally work through a process of elimination i.e. carving. So it's refreshing but difficult for me to work with the process of addition.
I love the feel and look of metal but find it difficult to work with.
L and I usually visit our local recycling station once a week; it's a great place for inspiration and cheap materials. On this one occaion she found these very unusual cast iron pulleys. The cast iron shoes are childrens' shoe lasts, which I'd purchased from a secondhand shop months before- the tongues were missing so I carved stone replacements.; which work to their advantage as they have now become two tone shoes. All these materials are heavy by nature, so to lighten the work up 'visually', I've chosen to suspend them.
To me, this piece is reminiscent of a circus performance -like tightrope walking ; which is a contradiction because you need to be agile and lightweight to perform the task.
I'm not sure how this piece will resolve itself. For now, it's hanging above my desk.
PS the shoes are 15cm long.

My Office

2007-06-23T17:05:00.000+10:00

This is my office. They call sculptors the lumberjacks of the visual art world; I wonder if it's because of our brawn and poor fashion sense? Regardless we seem to need the space for our toys: gantries, forklifts and tools. L calls my studio 'The Titanic'. We did not have the funds to build a quaint stone studio like those in Massa Cararra, so I had to settle for the ship. I like my ship; it allows me the time and space to play with my rocks. I'm in my own world for a part of everyday and the best part is that it's only 150 paces from the house. Breaking rocks is physical but the wrong kind of exercise. It’s the 150 paces up the hill twice a day that will keep me fit and healthy. Now if only I can find something that will benefit the RSI in my elbows I'll be set for another 20 years!

spirit boxes

2007-06-22T10:43:00.000+10:00

When I began making this sequence of works, it was like coming up to take a breath of fresh air. For the past four or five years I've been concentrating on large scale collaborative works. The process of creating work for public art commissions is very long. This requires an intensely focused 'mindset'- somewhat stoic and plodding.
These five works from my 'spirit box' series spring directly from an ongoing desire as an artist to communicate the inherent spirituality of stone.
A radical change in scale from the monumental to the very small is liberating. Each work is in effect a self contained novella as opposed to a novel, they are conceived and executed in a relatively short period of time, and are acts of pure indulgence. The only constraints that I set myself are that they must originate from a 'natural' boulder and allude to the functional.

#1 'spirit box: opuntia'
© Hew Chee Fong
240 x 180 x 170mm
granite.

#2 'spirit box: chalice'
© Hew Chee Fong
295 x 200 x 130mm
granite.

#3 'spirit box: catdog'
© Hew Chee Fong
215 x 209 x 100mm
granite

#4 'spirit box: waterwitch'
© Hew Chee Fong
270 x 250 x 140mm
granite + sand

#5 'spirit box: gompa'
© Hew Chee Fong
280 x 230 x 200mm
granite

*I will be posting detail photos showing the interiors of each sculpture in the slideshow on the sidebar.

'gateway'

2007-06-20T15:47:00.000+10:00

I created this structure to house an antique pair of Rajasthani doors. Natural granite monoliths have been cut to fit along side of and buttress the carved granite frame/lintel. The steps have been shaped to suggest the passage of time and a lot of foot traffic. I also built the timber roof structure to further protect the doors from the onslaught of rain and sun. A pair of granite guardian stones that once graced the home of a wealthy Chinese merchant in Indonesia, flank the steps. Originally polychromed, the paintwork is all but gone. Carved on the top of each is an auspicious crane and beautifully sculpted panels narrating the merchant's journey from China to his new home decorate the sides. Completing the entry way is a large brass 'Ganesh' bell from Kathmandu and four smaller Nepalese 'wind' bells on the four corners of the roof overhangs.

2007-06-19T16:33:00.000+10:00

private collection

“Incredible nothing that penetrates all reality”

2007-06-19T15:04:00.001+10:00

“Incredible nothing that penetrates all reality” © Hew Chee Fong
University of Northern Illinois Sculpture Park
Dimensions: 10’ High X 3’ 10” wide x 5’ 3’ deep

This work is about humanity’s’ obsession with the notion of time, whereas Nature cares little -if at all. Forces of nature created the boulder countless eons before our ancestors began to roam the earth’s surface. Unless deliberately destroyed it will remain long after our demise. The work enables my creative spirit to travel forward and endure with it. It is my time machine.

2007-06-18T13:24:00.001+10:00

Medium sized sculpture

2007-06-17T09:25:00.000+10:00

2007-06-16T11:34:00.000+10:00

STUDIES:
1984 Post Graduate Diploma in Sculpture.
Newcastle College of Advanced Education. N.S.W.
1983 Bachelor of Art (Visual Art), Sculpture.
Newcastle College of Advanced Education. N.S.W.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
1999 Michel Sourgnes Fine Art, Brisbane.
1999 Noosa Region Art Gallery. Qld.
1998 Greenaway Galleries, Adelaide.
1998 Michel Sourgnes Fine Art, Brisbane.
1995 Michel Sourgnes Fine Art, Brisbane.
1986 Newcastle Region Art Gallery, N.S.W.
1986 Holdsworth Contemporary Art Galleries, Sydney.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2006 International Symposium and Exhibition of Public Art,
China World Trade Centre, Beijing.
2005 Small Sculpture Show, International Sculpture Symposium
University Sunshine Coast Gallery
2005 Invitation 10th Anniversary Thursday Plantation
East Coast Sculpture Show
2004 “Expectations, Caboolture Art Collection”.
Mathew Flinders Gallery, Bribie Island.
2003 Sarasota Sculpture Exhibition, Florida. USA
2002 Sarasota Sculpture Exhibition, Florida. USA
2002 Michel Sourgnes Fine Art, Brisbane.
2001 ‘3D Chicago Pierwalk 2001’, Navy Pier, CHICAGO. IL.. U.S.A.
2001 Maquette Exhibition, Pier Walk 2001,
Richard J Daley Centre, Chicago. USA
2001 ‘SKIN DEEP’, Sunshine Coast University Gallery, Qld.
Noosa Regional Gallery. Qld.
Cooloolah Shire Public Gallery. Qld.
2000 ‘SKIN DEEP’, Poirirua Gallery, NEW ZEALAND
1998 Sixth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne.
1997 ‘MENTORS: the art of giving’, Caloundra Region Art Gallery.
1996 ‘Human Form and Nature’. Michel Sourgnes Fine Art, Brisbane.
1996 Gold Coast City Conrad Jupiter Art Prize,
Gold Coast City Art Gallery.
1996 Eleventh National Gold Coast Sculpture
Award, Gold Coast City Art Gallery.
1996 Lake Macquarie Sculpture Acquisition,
Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery.
1996 Logan Art Award, Logan City Art Gallery.
1996 Satellite Exhibition coinciding with The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial,
Michel Sourgnes Fine Arts. Brisbane.
1996 Stable Artists Show, Michel Sourgnes Fine Arts, Brisbane.
1996 ‘Direct Sun’, Noosa Region Art Gallery.
1995 ‘Christmas Wrap’, Michel Sourgnes Fine Arts, Brisbane.
1995 ‘Tenth National Gold Coast Sculpture’
Awards, Gold Coast City Council Build.
1991 ‘The Great Wall’, Metro Arts Gallery, Brisbane.
1991 ‘Mate it’s not the way it’s done here’, State Library of Queensland.
1991 ‘INNOVATIONS : Past & Present’, Von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle.
1987 ‘Acquisitions 1986-87’, Newcastle Region Art Gallery.
1986 ‘Eleven Artists from Newcastle’, Holdsworth Contemporary Art Galleries,
Sydney.
1986 ‘Exhibition of Recent Works by Hunter Valley Sculptors’,
Newcastle Region Art Gallery.
1985 ‘163 Kilometres North’, City Art Institute, Sydney.
1985 ‘Regional Sculpture Exhibition’, Maitland City Art Gallery.
1984 ‘Graduate Show’, NCAE Gallery.
1984 ‘Sculpture Show’, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery.
1984 ‘Sculpture at the Performance Space’,Performance Space Gallery, Sydney.
1984 ‘Young Artists’, NCAE Gallery Space.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
2000 Brisbane Port Authority
1996 Queensland Art Gallery
1986 Newcastle Region Art Gallery.

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS:
2006 Riverway Pioneer Park Lagoon Project, Thuringowa. Qld
2004 33 Charlotte Street, Brisbane, Entry Sculpture
2003 Oxley SCIP Public Art Project. Brisbane.
2003 Bell Street Mall Water Feature, Toowoomba.
2003 Ruthven Street Water Feature, Toowoomba.
2003 Kelvin Grove Urban Village Public Art, Brisbane.
2003 Cairns Esplanade Lagoon Entry Installation
2002 Woolworths Wall, Sunshine Plaza, Maroochydore.
2002 Roof Garden Installation Herston Hospital. Qld
2002 Glebe Park Public Art Project, Canberra. ACT
2002 Forecourt Garden, William McCormack Place, Cairns.
2002 Southern Courtyard Atrium, Herston Hosp. Brisbane.
2001 Maroochy Bushlands Botanic Gardens. Buderim. QLD.
2001 Feature Sculpture, Caboolture CBD. Qld
2001 Gardens Point Land Art Installation, Brisbane.
2001 Albert St Entry , Roma Street Parklands Project
2000 Tesch Park Land Art Installation, Maleny. Qld.
2000 Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Entry Sculpture. Qld.
1999 Carindale Town Square Installation, Qld.
1998 Grosvenor City Apartments Public Sculpture, Brisbane.
1997 Montville Public Art Project, Sunshine Coast. Qld.
1997 Coolum Esplanade Beautification Project. Qld.
1996 Mooloolaba Esplanade Project, Sunshine Coast. Qld

SYMPOSIUMS:
2007 International Sculpture Symposium, Maroochydore.

2007-06-15T16:10:00.000+10:00

2006 Art & Architecture Award, Royal Institute of Architects, For 33 Charlotte Street, Brisbane.
2005 Highly Commended, Invitation 10th Anniversary Thursday Plantation East Coast Sculpture Show
2004 Art & Architecture Award, Royal Institute of Architects, for Cairns Esplanade Redevelopment.
2003 C&CCA Public Domain Awards for 'Tidalwall'.
2000 Thursday Plantation Sculpture Award
1999 Martin Hanson Memorial Prize, Sculpture Section
1999 Sculpture Prize, Maroochy Art Award
1999 Sculpture Prize, Ascot Art Show.
1999 Sculpture Prize, Caloundra Art Festival.
1999 Winner, The Maroochydore Excellence in Planning + Building Awards for 'Dialogue'
1999 Certificate of Merit, The Maroochy Excellence in Building Awards for 'Pitsaws'.
1997 Recipient of a Grant from Qld. Visual Arts Board.
1997 Caloundra Art Festival Sculpture Prize.
1996 Caloundra Art Festival Sculpture Prize.
1996 Sunshine Coast Art Group Exhibition Sculpture Prize.
1995 Caloundra Art Festival Sculpture Prize.
1995 Tenth National Gold Coast Sculpture Award.
1985 City of Newcastle Artist in Residence.
1983 Hunter Region Sculpture Society Prize.
1983 John Anscomb Memorial Prize
1982 Hunter Region Sculpture Society Prize

Essay

2007-06-15T15:09:00.000+10:00

Hew Chee Fong. An essay by Timothy Morrell

Hew Chee Fong tells stories in wood and stone. He transforms these materials through sculpture, while as far as possible maintaining natural forms. Viewers are left with a sense that the meaning or content of his work was already contained in the original block.

The idea that the finished work is contained in the raw material can be traced back to a statement about sculpture attributed to Michelangelo, who is said to have regarded his process of carving marble as a way of releasing the form from the stone. The principle of truth to materials was a key element in theories of Western art from Michelangelo to Modernism. The fact that artists have almost never really fulfilled this principle is discreetly overlooked by critics and historians. Even Brancusi, the twentieth century master of pure organic form and an important influence on Hew, coaxed marble into streamlined slender shapes that are radically at odds with the brittle character of the stone. Perhaps the European mind is simply not philosophically equipped for relinquishing so much control to nature. The legacy of Constantin Brancusi was passed on to Hew Chee Fong through the artist he most admires, the Japanese‑American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The simplified, African‑derived forms on which Brancusi based most of his work, and which had such a huge impact on the vocabulary of forms in Western art of the twentieth‑century, were learned by Hew Chee Fong through an essentially Japanese translation.

We have to look to the art of Buddhist societies to find a tradition of allowing materials to tell their own story. The way that Japanese raku ceramics and Chinese brush and ink paintings combine great freedom with exquisite refinement has been a revelation to the West. Despite his Chinese heritage, Hew Chee Fong is a Western‑trained artist, and has had to discover and reclaim for himself the Asian traditions that now guide his approach to carving sculpture.

The combination of rough, virtually untreated surfaces and meticulously carved, highly polished areas is a recurring aspect of Hew Chee Fong's sculpture that viewers immediately notice when viewing the works. Again, it is Michelangelo and Brancusi who provide a pedigree. A genealogy of Hew Chee Fong's methods includes the heroic forms of Michelangelo's unfinished Slaves, still embedded in their marble blocks, and Brancusi's mirror‑finish sculptures on rough‑hewn timber bases. A simple East‑West crossover, however, is not adequate to describe the elements that are combined in the work of this artist. The cultural identity of his sculptures, and the cultural background of Hew Chee Fong himself, are more complex than that.

He was born in Malaysia, schooled in England and trained as an artist in Australia. Hew Chee Fong has spent his entire life in alien cultures. As part of the Chinese diaspora in predominantly Muslim Malaysia he was born a foreigner and has remained one, learning to observe the world with the keen curiosity and heightened perception of a traveller. He consciously expresses his origins through his work, but also makes less direct references to many other sources. African art has been absorbed into his sculpture via the European history of primitivism, and he acknowledges American hard‑edged minimalism, but always filtered through Zen principles of tranquil contemplation.

In the earliest work reproduced here, Lotus sustained by the waters of life (1995), he explores the realm of animist nature worship by adapting an Indian fertility symbol. This sculpture culminates in a polished stone, which immediately recalls the stone lingams that are ritually anointed by Hindu holy men.

For some Australian artists, this seemingly arbitrary homogenizing of extremely diverse sources has become a convenient way of giving their work an artificially ethnic look. For Hew Chee Fong, however, the blending of cultures is not artificial. It is a direct expression of the way he has experienced the world.

It was a significant point in this quest of self‑discovery when, in 1996, he decided to work under his Chinese name, having previously used the name Ernest Hew for his public identity.

Feng shui (1996), a group of sculptures incorporating the Chinese symbols for the four cardinal points of the compass, marks his sense of direction at this time. The symbols are engraved in roughly sawn slabs of eucalyptus wood which have been painted a deep red that simultaneously recalls the refinement of Chinese lacquer and the durability of red oxide paint used for protection against rust on the bolts of rugged bush carpentry. The imagery literally combines East and West. The four wooden slabs are designed to be suspended from the wall and each is accompanied by a small boulder, through the heart of which leads a miniature flight of carved stone steps. These directional elements suggest a kind of internal labyrinth within the stone, more abstractly labelled by the engraved wood. A fifth stone stands in the centre of the other four.

This is a modestly scaled work, yet a complex and very telling one. The centrally placed component surrounded by indicators of direction creates a strongly emblematic expression both of decision making and the forces which guide or control events in life. The surprising discovery of staircases within the stones is an extremely engaging and delightful component of the work, and also perhaps its most evocative aspect. Animating plain rock with a suggestion that there is more to discover inside it illustrates simply and clearly the artist's goals as a stone carver.

The scale is domestic, which emphasizes the personal character of this work, and underlines the way that, according to the principles of feng shui, momentous forces interact with the intimate world of our daily life. The carved boulders become small symbols of architecture combined with landscape, the proper interaction of which is the central factor in achieving a harmonious existence through feng shui.

Hew Chee Fong repeatedly refers to domestic and landscape environments in his sculpture. Many of his works from the mid1980s incorporate bowls and other vessels. Some suggest private shrines or totemic representations of household gods. Two sculptures from 1996, Spirit Stone I and Spirit Stone ll derive their meaning from the important Chinese tradition of ancestor‑worship. There is a generically tribal appearance to the stubby, phallic profile of these sculptures, but the artist describes the source of the form as the Chinese version of the palanquin, the canopied chair on which rich or powerful individuals were carried in some societies. The pit‑fired ceramic vessels that stand beside each of the Spirit Stones allude to the Chinese practice of disinterring the remains of the dead after a decade and sealing them in a large jar.

This combination of sacred ritual and familiar artefact embodies the kind of spiritual beliefs that are centred on private life at home rather than elaborate spectacle in public.

Perfecting the domestic environment, which seems a mundane pursuit in the West, can be seen as having a more distinctly metaphysical purpose in a society where feng shui predicts dire consequences if the home is not properly arranged. Likewise, the correct regard for ancestors and respecting their presence with private shrines creates a sacred dimension in humble daily life.

Respect for the formal, ritualised aspect of home life is precisely conveyed in Five Measures of Rice (1998). The long, low granite table with a blocky wooden seat in front is very like an altar shrine for personal devotions. In the centre of the table rests a large, almost perfectly ovoid stone and at opposite ends of the table are, on one side of the stone, five shallow squares carved out to hold rice, and on the other side a shallow square of water. These could be the sacraments of some agrarian nature worship, but the strict balance of the composition also implies a more abstract equation of life forces. It is a severely elegant statement of basic existence.

The use of bowls, urns and jars in small sculptures was adapted for a larger work in one of Hew Chee Fong's first public sculpture commissions. Crucible (1998) was made for the front of the Grosvenor City Apartments building in central Brisbane. This was an unusual public art commission because the site, although it is on a busy city street, is a block of private dwellings. The imagery he established in domestic sculptures could be logically transferred into this context, simplified and expanded into a larger scale. Crucible consists of a monumental stone vessel standing on a roughly cube‑shaped block. The vessel is brimming with water, which trickles gently over the block below and drains from a shallow square pool filled with round river stones.

In the later 1990s convincingly carved representations of pools of rippling water coincided with the increasing scale of his works, as commissions for public sculptures became more frequent. It is often possible to interpret these larger installations in terms of landscape. Yet here again, despite the public location and the civic function of these sculptures, they generally create an ambience of intimate or private space. Hew Chee Fong's approach to landscape is significantly different to the reverence for wild and unfettered nature engendered by the Romantic movement, that made landscape a prominent subject for Western artists. The Chinese tradition of landscape design, which was much imitated in Europe 300 years ago and helped prepare the way for Romanticism, was dedicated to ideals of peace and tranquillity. The traditional Chinese garden aspired to a semblance of the looseness and freedom of nature, but in a meticulously controlled and contained setting. As part of the domestic environment, the gardens of Chinese aristocrats and scholars provided a refuge from the turbulence of the world, not a recreation of it, which was often the intention of Western art.

A sculpture from 1996 may be seen as a transitional work, between the small shrine‑like pieces and the more expanded installations. Dialogue is a synthesis from various sources, but the traditional Kyoto‑type raked stone garden is the dominant reference. The stone garden reproduces in a hard material (raked gravel) the fleeting ripples of water, a pleasing paradox which invites contemplation. Hew takes this paradox a step further by engraving ripples in granite. One rough and untreated bolder sits in the centre of the rippling concentric rings, engaged in a dialogue with a square pillar of marble polished to a mirror finish. This duality of a rounded, naturally organic form and a precisely worked geometric one inevitably suggests the Asian yin‑yang principle, the harmony of opposites (specifically in this case male and female, nature and culture).

The illusion of water and its patterns of movement recreated on the glossy surface of highly polished Adelaide black granite (a stone which lends itself remarkably well to that treatment) became a distinctive aspect of Hew Chee Fong's work at this time. The sculpture that makes the purest use of the idea is Skipping stones (1999), a thin granite slab simply (but exceedingly laboriously) carved and polished to represent three sets of concentric ripples left by a stone skipping across an absolutely still body of water. Beyond the sheet of reflective stone is a pile of rounded flat pebbles, suggesting that the radiating rings are traces left by only the last in a series of stones that have skimmed across the water in this way. Capturing permanently the ephemeral nature of this sort of evidence further explores the paradox inherent in carving stone to resemble water. The flawless surface imparted to the top of the slab contrasts with the rough edges which still have the grooves left by the quarrying drill. It is as though a moment of perfect peace had been snapped off from the continuum of time and preserved as a souvenir. Hew Chee Fong makes the most of this dialogue of opposites. The idea of making an enduring monument to that most light‑hearted way of passing time, skipping stones across a pool, is contradictory in itself. Yet this work honours the preciousness of the leisurely moments when we can be so calmly reflective.

The intensely private mood of Hew's sculptures has been translated into public art with surprising fluency. In 1999 he applied his carved ripple technique to a work for the Carindale Town Square in suburban Brisbane and in 2000‑2001 developed the idea further for a large sculptural group at the entrance to the Roma Street Parklands in the centre of the city.

Water Blocks, his work for the Roma Street Parklands, is comprised of three massive black granite blocks which at first sight may appear to be a brutally simple arrangement of roughly squared, undressed rock. All three, however, have been variously carved and polished to convey different water effects. The side that faces the street on the largest block has been transformed into a veil of flowing water. On the other blocks smaller trickles seem to have eroded corners and left them wet and shining. On the top of each of the blocks is the familiar expanding ripple pattern ‑ as if a stone had skipped lightly across all three.

Big‑scale sculpture in the public domain presents a dilemma for artists; the need to convey a strong image, memorable enough to survive amidst the surrounding distractions also poses a threat to the integrity of the work and may reduce it to an empty bombastic statement. Hew Chee Fong, however, has been particularly successful in combining the seemingly contradictory qualities of monumentality and intimacy. His sculpture allows viewers to experience private space in the public domain.

Timothy Morrell is a curator and writer living in Brisbane, and has contributed regularly to periodicals on Australian art for the past 20 years. He has been a curator at the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Queensland Art Gallery, and his freelance curatorial work has included exhibitions in Australia, Asia and Europe, as well as public art projects in Brisbane. http://www.artlink.com.au/contributors.cfm?id=14

bibliography

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awards

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small sculpture

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curriculum vitae

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large sculpture

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Early works

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PUBLIC ART

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