Sculpture as a form of artistic expression is not just the mastery of a material to create a three dimensional work, but also an exercise in manipulating the way light falls around an object to express meaning. The soft, organic lines of Melbourne-based artist Dominic van der Merwe’s works are perfectly contoured to take advantage of the changes of light and shadow throughout the day, making his pieces almost dance as they interact with their surroundings.
Van der Merwe’s practice involves selecting shapes and silhouettes from the natural world and translating them into South Australian limestone. The artist describes these shapes as “all seemingly random, yet so perfectly functional and with an underlying order, designed by the forces of nature over time”. This process of revealing the hidden structures of our environment is fully realised when the final form is exposed to light, animating the stone in an echo of the ebb and flow of nature. Shadows slowly move, the innate properties of the limestone acting to diffuse light across its surface, creating an aesthetic tension between the solidity of the stone and the living presence it represents.
Even natural rock formations shift and break down in the face of time’s inexorable progression, and by thoroughly considering the play of shadow that his works will create, Van der Merwe is able to capture the spirit of the natural world.
Featured image: Dominic van der Merwe, Aspects, 2022. South Australian limestone, 47 x 24 x 9cm. Courtesy: the artist.