Additional Information

The Silent Watcher 4 – by Kim Rees hand built sculptures and stand. Sold individually they can be purchased as a pair at a reduced price if preferred, please contact help@artloversaustralia.com.au to enquire.

There is a story behind this series of 4 sculptures, and its not so much about the sculpture itself. 5 years ago, a house two doors down was bulldozed to make way for a duplex that covers approx 80-90% of the block. Green space would be less than 5 percent allowing for the driveways, paths and pools and two lovely old banksia trees were ripped out of the nature strip and not replaced (changing our streetscape along with 2 other houses that were dealt the same fate next door and across the road – street parking is now a nightmare). The best thing about the previous old house was the huge big silky oak in the backyard, home to magpies with their lovely music. Occasionally I’d get leaves blown into my garden on windy days and the odd seedling appear now and then. Not long after it was torn down a seedling appeared in my small courtyard garden, so I allowed it to grow, still grieving the loss of the tree that had been replaced with massive walls and windows. And Grow and Grow it did, within 3 years it was above my second storey balcony, and I was becoming a little alarmed. Reluctant to cut it down but it was clearly going to develop into something far too large before too long at the rate it was going. I put off doing anything about it, thinking I would let it get bigger and then use the timber for – well something. To slow it down a little I cut off the leader from hand reach to about a 1m length of wood leaving the trunk to develop into a ‘standard’ that hopefully will be manageable. The little post sat drying for 9 months or so and I had no idea what I could do with it. Finally deciding it could be used as part of a stand as the real hero with a sculpture to compliment it, these are the final results.

Stripped, sanded and oiled, the Silky oak wood is hard and strong, attached to hand made bases of pine in a charcoal acrylic finish, topped by moveable and removable abstract sculpted heads with a single feature, these two feature abstracted nose and eye and eyebrow on the other., Glazed in copper wash , the reverse of Silent Watchers 1 and 2, complimenting the naturalness of the silky oak – the real hero’s of these pieces in my rebellious lament of nature being stripped bare all around our urban environment and beyond. Measurements include sculptures, base and stand. The heads can be swivelled slightly up/down and sideways.