Whalesong: Time and Space
An Exhibition of Sculpture and Musical Performance
Sculpture and concept:
Peter Blizzard
Performance:
Adam Simmons (Saxophone)
Novak Conrad (Guitar)
Barry Cockcroft (Saxophone)
Tony Johnson (Keyboards)
Sunday 31 May 2009 12pm to 6pm
(performance commencing at 2.30)
35 Derby Street Collingwood Victoria
Australian Galleries is delighted to present a remarkable exhibition of Peter Blizzard’s sculptural work, with an accompanying experimental art performance. Whilst receiving numerous awards and commissions in Australia for public sculpture, Blizzard is also a highly regarded musician, who alongside his friend and pianist Tony Johnson has investigated the relationship between visual and performing arts since the late 1950’s. As a Senior Lecturer in Sculpture at the University of Ballarat, he initiated and organised regular experimental art performances involving a broad range of painters, sculptors, musicians, poets and dancers. A practice he continues to the present day.
To coincide with the opening of his exhibition Whale Song: Time and Space, Peter Blizzard has invited the musicians: Adam Simmons (saxophones, flutes), Barry Cockcroft (saxophones), Novak Conrad (guitar) and Tony Johnson (keyboards) to respond and improvise their captivating sounds to the shapes and forms of his sculpture, in a performance of experimental music.
His major work Whale Song Moon Halo, 2008 provides the cornerstone for the exhibition and the art performance, reflecting the artist’s strong views about the destructive nature of Japanese whaling, and the grave possibility of losing the sublime whale songs forever. Initially the musicians will provide individual solo performances, and for the first time, will hear the other’s response to the sculpture. If, after listening to one another’s performances they find some commonality in their responses, they will perform an ensemble piece based on their combined interpretations.
Peter Blizzard has been fighting cancer for the past four and a half years, and is still producing emotionally charged work which captures the inherent quality of a unique environment and it’s inhabitants. Australian Galleries invites you to celebrate with him the essential spirit of nature.