Artist: Donna Marcus

Curator: Lisa Warrener, Global Art Projects

Commissioner: Laing O'Rourke for South East Program Alliance (SEPA) as part of the Level Crossing Removal Program (LXRP)

Fabricator: Stainless Aesthetics

Bloom, 2 cast-bronze sculptures by acclaimed Australian artist Donna Marcus are now installed at the new Croydon train station in Melbourne.

These wonderful pieces are the first permanent public artworks by Donna in Melbourne, and it has been a pleasure working with her throughout the process of bringing these works to fruition.

Each of Bloom’s spherical sculptures feature 12 cone-like shapes, inspired initially by a pudding bowl found in Croydon’s Vinnies Op shop.  

Donna has been working with aluminium kitchenware as the basis of much of her sculptural work for more than 30 years, transforming found items by combining them into repetitive forms of modernist grids and spheres. She is engaged by the stories evoked by these objects, and by the familiarity they engender in many viewers.

“I was really thrilled to see that the (local) op shops still had some great aluminium pieces.  It’s always so interesting to see what is discarded as communities and cultural practices change. These objects  tell so many stories, histories small and large.”

“I love the sense of memorialising the little throw-away things that have once been so important in people’s lives. The seemingly insignificant often looms large in memory. Capturing this and making it literally large in public space is an important part of this work.”

Donna, also drew inspiration from native Yellow Gumnut and Plane Tree seed pods she collected on a site visit.

While the seeds’ round shape is apparent in the sculptures’ spherical shape, the contrast between native and introduced flora helped to influence Bloom’s broader exploration of “then and now”, both culturally and environmentally.

“The idea is that the sculptures almost look like they are planted, transformed from industrial forms to organic forms, blending into the garden beds. The smaller sculptural component represents the bud, with its tighter whorled patterns, which bloom in the larger work,”

This artwork is located at the Croydon Train Station (Lilydale line), Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Donna is represented by Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert, Sydney

Website: www.donnamarcus.com.au

Instagram: @donnamarcus_