“Life, Love and Adventure Together” is a meaningful exhibition by Australian contemporary artists Gillie and Marc Schattner. This series of animal sculptures is inspired by the artists’ determination to save endangered animals from imminent extinction.
The new series marks a departure from their previous creations, which feature their iconic dogman and bunnygirl. It creates a new sense of wonder and inflection due to the fact that the animals they sculpted seem to balance precariously on a rope. These animals either highlight certain plights they face or in the case of the magpies, are animals that Gillie and Marc themselves greatly admire.
The Flying Rhino for example evince the greatest threat facing rhinos: illegal trading of their horns. This bronze work signifies a crisis often unseen and ignored. The rhinos hang precariously onto a thin rope — a symbol of what is at stake.
The Climbing Zebra satirises the ridiculous stunts animals have to perform for entertainment. It also represents the struggle animals go through to survive every day. It is a cry to humankind to treat animals with more kindness and grace.
The magpie is the artists’ favourite animal, one whom they greatly admire. Magpies are the most intelligent animals; they have the ability to recognise themselves in a mirror reflection. Simon, the Magpie pays tribute to the black and white species native to Australia. The artists add splashes of colour to the sculpture’s body, a signature technique of theirs.
Gillie and Marc are a husband-and-wife duo whose works have been commissioned for venues including Australia Zoo, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Hilton Hotel Singapore, Ying Ren Four Seasons Hotel in Beijing, and more. In 2016, their work “Shandu, Buried Rhino”, which was featured in Sculptures by the Sea at Bondi Beach, won the People’s Choice and Kids’ Choice Awards. The award-winning sculpture is now collected by Monarto Zoo in South Australia.
Venue: Ode To Art Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road, #01- 36E/F Raffles City Shopping Center, Singapore 179103
Opening Hours: 11am – 9pm (Sunday-Thursday); 12pm – 10pm (Friday & Saturday)
When: 23 Feb - 16 Mar 2017,
By: Ode To Art
