Joe Sheehan
b.1976
Mother
- 2008
- Greywacke stone
- Purchased, 2008
- 215 x 141 x 106mm
- 2008/029
Tags: bottles, pollution, realism (artistic form of expression), rock, rubbish
Walking on Mākara Beach near Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington in 2008, sculptor Joe Sheehan found a crushed plastic milk bottle and a large greywacke stone. Here he combines those forms, transforming the age-old stone into a piece of throwaway rubbish. Its crushed, twisted body seems to reflect the pressure of human contact with the land. Formed over millions of years, the original stone has lost all sense of weight and substance. Empty, out-of-place and surplus to requirements, it is far easier to dismiss and discard.
(Te Wheke, 2020)
Exhibition History
Brought to Light, September 2009
Walking on Makara Beach in 2008, sculptor Joe Sheehan found two things: a crushed plastic milk bottle and a large greywacke stone. In ‘Mother’ he fuses these to striking effect, carving the age-old stone into a perfect echo of a piece of throwaway rubbish. Translated into a hard and heavy new medium, the bottle's crushed form and its open mouth start to suggest a twisted and expressive body. The stone itself looks tormented – nature under extreme pressure. (Brought to light, November 2009)