Abundance

 Traditionally Inuits used to hunt dovekies in July when they were nesting on high cliffs. They would catch the birds, kill them and stuff them into bags made of sealskin and full of seal blubber to ferment. During winter these morsels would be brought out and eaten as treats.

In the series, Polar Bear, the bears often behave as Inuits. In the beautifully shaped composition, Abundance, both bears carry sealskin bags and nets to catch the dovekies. If you look carefully at the bears they seem a little disturbed as if they know they are being watched.

The Dream of The White Bear

Kerry is back in the studio sculpting the fourth of 14 compositions for his 14^th series, ‘Polar Bear’.

He has long been fascinated by tales of the frozen north and when reading a copy of National Geographic he was fascinated by a picture of a polar bear swimming underwater.

Coincidentally he had been thinking about dreams and nightmares and this led to him contemplating, in a dark polar January what might a bear dream?

Kerry considers  “Sculpture is limited by being anchored by gravity and is therefore not true 3D.”

With ‘Polar Bear’ he is trying to create a true 3D sculpture giving the illusion of swimming in water.

Art Miami!!

Wow!! Art Miami is HUGE. It is a week long festival of Art, Art and more Art. And Kerry was there. He was actually there to participate in the ISC ‘Movers and Shakers’ Sculptors’ Symposium, but managed to find time to walk the streets and the galleries of many of the 20 different Art fairs. His feet are still recovering.

In the Wynwood Art area huge marquees were set up to house Art Miami; Context; Miami Project; Red Dot Miami; Spectrum Miami and several others. 

On the VIP preview night there were so many people, cars, security and art it was overwhelming.

Nighttime was an exhilarating experience in the Wynwood Art District itself. Situated in one of the grittier parts of Miami, Kerry saw quite a bit of the grit on his walk there. Wynwood is a working class predominantly, Puerto Rican neighborhood, which until recently was renowned for drugs, crime and a general sense of foreboding. It is in the process of transformation due to Art. The night before Art Miami kicked off Kerry and his partner walked those streets, carefully picking their way though the enthusiastic graffiti artists who were creating huge, amazing murals on the walls of the abandoned warehouses. Known as ‘Wynwood Walls’ these attract thousands of people and the energy level is very high. The many small galleries lining the streets show contemporary and bold art, and the young gallery owners are very welcoming. There are also many good places to eat.

One has to go to Art Basel on Miami Beach and Kerry did; it is enormous. It contained what felt like hundreds of booths (and probably was) and each booth was as big as an Art Gallery; Picasso, Henry Moore, Miro and many contemporary artists were displayed. The whole affair though was a bit impersonal, ‘like the art.’

One gallery that was quite different was Aqua Art Miami near South Beach. Set in the Art Deco corridor Aqua is a classic South Beach hotel with spacious exhibition rooms. These are all equipped with luxurious baths which combined with the rooms opening out onto a breezy intimate courtyard gave it the feel of an up market brothel. Kerry said ‘it was a fun place to visit to view art that was more accessible.’

Seeing so much Art so quickly makes it difficult to remember most of it.

Red Dot was Kerry’s favorite, but that might have been because it was the first gallery visited and he was fresh.

The Chianciano Biennale.

In Italy at the Chianciano Art Museum Biennale 2013, Kerry received The Leonardo Award for Sculpture- First Prize.
Wahooooo!!

The preparations for the show take over a year as artworks are selected from more than two thousand artists from thirty different nations.
120 artists were selected for the 2013 Biennale and nearly 400 artworks were displayed.

Everyday during the week long exhibition the Museum organised a variety of professional talks and artist activities, as well as cultural experiences.

Kerry returned home a happy, if somewhat tired, artist..

Congratulations Kerry...

The Idea

I am the Lizard Queen’s assistant and I will tell you how Kerry Cannon turns his ideas into bronze.

Kerry makes narrative sculptures to tell stories in bronze.  His vivid imagination creates stories from anywhere and anytime.  It might be something political or something that he has seen, heard of, read about or something that his dark sense of humor realises is worthy of bronze.

Once the idea has been decided on and research, notes and sketches have been done the sculpting in wax begins in the studio.

His creative Muse must have been watching old Heckle and Jeckle cartoons for the latest bronzes.  His two vaudeville-style crows are both amusing and sinister; laugh at them, but be aware they are survivors and will stab you in the back if it is in their interest.

Sometimes it is difficult for a sculptor to find time to get into the studio. In the last few weeks the life of Kerry Cannon has been hectic as he made 3 consecutive road trips to Sydney to set up different shows.
'The Glass House' which is Kerry's 13th series, was well received at Frances Keevil's Gallery at Double Bay.
The following weekend Kerry's sculpture 'Fortune' was set up in the Sculptors Society's annual  exhibition at Darling Park in Sussex St where 'Fortune' won the 'Australian Bronze Prize' for cast work.
Road trips to Sydney are over until October when 'In Situ' is on in Mossman so Kerry hopes to have some time in the studio to do what a sculptor likes to do, sculpt.