John Meade
Sunshade sculpture 2025
aluminium, PVC, nylon
$POA
Through sculpture, video, and installation, Naarm/Melbourne-based artist John Meade draws relations between the metaphysical and surreal in the experience of contemporary life and culture. A refined and adventurous materiality defines his work, through sensuous forms and unexpected juxtapositions inflected by the personal, cosmic, erotic and uncanny. Meade also pushes the boundaries of traditional sculpture fabrication, incorporating new technologies and processes from design industries. His ‘material’ is not limited to physical media but encompasses cultural histories such as music, design, and film.
Meade's Sunshade sculpture uses Federico Fellini’s 1965 film Juliet of the Spirits as a keystone, its simple abstract form based on the extraordinary hats worn by Fellini’s characters and designed by Piero Gheradi. The film is set in the seaside town of Fregene near Rome, and follows a woman who confronts the desires and sublimations of her psyche to find resolve and set her ghosts free. There is a moment in the film where the lead character, Guilietta, is with friends at the beach. She is reclining on a sun lounge and she’s wearing a white straw/mesh bowl-shaped hat. As she relaxes in the sun, she slowly lowers her head and falls into a daydream. With this movement, the brim of her hat slowly moves down over her eyes to screen out the reality of daylight, allowing her to fall into her subconscious.
The faceted latticework of Sunshade sculpture's main hemisphere is inspired in part by the marbled dome ceiling of the Red Fort in Delhi. It's hexagonal design also reveals subtle references to occult spiritualism as seen in Fellini's film. On the Lorne beach, Meade's choice of lightweight materials such as the nylon webbing weave utilise the wind to evoke a sunny, relaxed, disposition (the etymology of resolve is solvere, Latin for loosen or release).
Selected solo exhibitions include It’s Personal, curated by Simon Lawrie, McClelland, Langwarrin (2023); Round World, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne (2023); Sign Language, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne (2021); Set Pieces, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2016; Autumn 2014, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne (2014); Objects to Live By: The Art of John Meade, Latrobe Valley Regional Gallery and touring nationally (2010-2011); and Incident in the Museum 2: John Meade, MUMA, Melbourne (2005). Selected group exhibitions include Hair Pieces, Heide Museum of Modern Art, (2024); Who’s Afraid of Public Space?, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2022); Connecting the World through Sculpture: In the Air, Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) (2021); TarraWarra Biennial: From Will to Form, TarraWarra Museum of Art (2018); Sleep on the Left Side, Gallery Seven Art, New Delhi (2012); and ShContemporary 08, Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, China (2008). His work is held in major public and private collections including National Gallery of Victoria, Ballarat Art Gallery, Monash University Museum of Art, and McClelland.
John Meade is represented by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne.
Images: Love flower 2019, Peninsula Link freeway, Langwarrin. Photo Andrew Curtis (top); John Meade (bottom). Courtesy the artist.
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