Feeling Sheepish 4 - 27 October 2019
CASPA Castlemaine Contemporary Art Space
Candy Stevens, Australia rides on the sheep's back, 2019
Hovering heart
Arrival
Bone Dry
The Big Marino
Shadow Land
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44 Sheep on the First Fleet
Feeling Sheepish
Plough
Sucker
A stitch in time
Paddock to Plate
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Candy Stevens, Suspense, 2019
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"So interesting – well done! The sculptural pieces are so beautiful and well constructed
– fun/disturbing and so visceral" Anon
– fun/disturbing and so visceral" Anon
Artist Statement
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Artist & "Suspense" at opening night
Using sheep as her muse, Candy draws upon their iconic Australian status to expose notions of Western idealism and to explore the way the continent has been re-shaped through overgrazing.
“I find it ironic that sheep, singular; are shy, innocent herbivores, and yet en-masse they become destructive beasts. They provide warmth, food and gross national income whilst they jackhammer cleared land with their hooves causing environmental devastation, dispossession and species extinction. Feeling Sheepish is my sense of shame around this paradox of attachment and impact that plagues our national pysche and identity. I use puns and playfulness to combine the conceptual and material content to better contemplate our human nature and the paradox revealed in the issues surrounding sheep farming in Australia.”
When it comes to the question of how we personally identify with the national psyche, Candy is interested in developing consciousness. She does this through her art by challenging icons and questioning the established cultural paradigms that they represent in a playful and confronting way, in the tradition of the larrikin.
Seddon, G 1997, Landprints: Reflections on place and Landscape, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pg 214.
Using sheep as her muse, Candy draws upon their iconic Australian status to expose notions of Western idealism and to explore the way the continent has been re-shaped through overgrazing.
“I find it ironic that sheep, singular; are shy, innocent herbivores, and yet en-masse they become destructive beasts. They provide warmth, food and gross national income whilst they jackhammer cleared land with their hooves causing environmental devastation, dispossession and species extinction. Feeling Sheepish is my sense of shame around this paradox of attachment and impact that plagues our national pysche and identity. I use puns and playfulness to combine the conceptual and material content to better contemplate our human nature and the paradox revealed in the issues surrounding sheep farming in Australia.”
When it comes to the question of how we personally identify with the national psyche, Candy is interested in developing consciousness. She does this through her art by challenging icons and questioning the established cultural paradigms that they represent in a playful and confronting way, in the tradition of the larrikin.
Seddon, G 1997, Landprints: Reflections on place and Landscape, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pg 214.
Candy Stevens, The Wool Trade, 2019
Candy Stevens, Country Living, 2019
"Awesome! Thought provoking! Beautiful wooly-work and fun to sit and add to the Country Living collage. Will be following your work from now on, Thank you." Sandy Dunnne
