The Invited Artists of SWELL Sculpture Festival 2024
Invited artists bringing innovation and inspiration to SWELL
ALEX SETON
NSW
THE GOLDEN CALF (2018) ED. 3
The Golden Calf (2018) consists of large plastic barriers of the kind used in road safety, stacked in a cross-hatched pattern, and crowned with a single gold-leafed barrier. The barriers are vinyl wrapped with prints of Australian decorative marbles. The work serves as a strange effigy to a world ever-more intent on cultivating, celebrating and even monetising divisions between us, in our communities, and in the wider culture.
More about Alex Seton
Alex Seton is a Sydney-based artist 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 has used this lens to engage directly with contemporary political issues, such as Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers, and questions of conflict and nationhood. He has had numerous solo exhibitions nationally and internationally. In 2021, The Australian War Memorial awarded Seton the major Sufferings of War and Service commission. His large-scale installation For Every Drop Shed in Anguish was launched in the Sculpture Garden in 2023. His work is held in collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank, Art Gallery of South Australia, Australian War Memorial, Newcastle Art Gallery, Bendigo Art Gallery, the Danish Royal Art Collection, Copenhagen, and Alnoba Art Park New Hampshire, USA, and numerous other private and public collections. Seton has also been awarded numerous residencies and art prizes, notably being the first Australian artist to win the prestigious Sovereign Asian Art Award in 2020 and receiving the Mordant Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome in 2019. He also won the Contemporary Talents Prize at the Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France in 2017. In March 2024, Alex’s large-scale installation For Every Drop Shed in Anguish was launched at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, as a result of the four year Sufferings of War and Service commission. Seton is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney and Singapore.
Instagram @alexseton_
Website www.alexseton.com
THE GREATS SERIES IS PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY EXPERIENCE GOLD COAST
IMAGE: Courtesy of the artists