I know that I said this week that I would be talking about the 17^th Sydney Biennale, well, it is still kinda true.  I will be certainly be touching on what is regarded as our city’s largest display of local and international art, but I would actually like to take this opportunity to make a small yet heart filled tribute to the late and great Biennale artist Louise Bourgeois who sadly passed away last Monday.

Best known for her large spider works, one of which takes pride of place in front of the Tate Modern in London and which inspired many to refer to her affectionately as the spider-woman, she was one of the most important and influential artists of the 20^th Century.

In a career spanning more than seven decades, including works in multiple mediums she will be most remembered for her contribution to the world of sculpture, her warped anamorphic spiders, Mamans are said to be inspired by her mother, a sewer, and nature; the intricate and fragile web of life, immortalised in bronze.

Bronze was a medium that she seemed to favour; the chosen medium for one of the few works that the Biennale of Sydney was lucky to acquire for its biennual exhibition of Australian and international contemporary art.

ECHO is a collection of painted bronze sculptures, cast from Louise’s own clothes.  ‘Cast’ is an interesting word to use to describe these works, as they tend to celebrate the object cast aside, the discarded personal yet universally recognised article.  The cloth shell that we wear unto the world; an echo of ourselves.

These pieces at first glance look animal-esque, pale organic forms akin to the darker works of Giacometti.  Yet at closer glance the fabric weave becomes more prevalent, the intricate collection of fibres, again in homage to the threads of life and in a way, a tribute to her family’s rich history in the rag trade.

Her works are super charged with sexuality and mortality, of nature and psychology.  These themes informed her work right to the end and being the ever prolific artist she finished her last works just a week before her own mortality was realised.

The art world has lost a true legend and I urge you to experience her works (including other sculptures and painted works) at the MCA as part of the Sydney Biennale.  Until the 1^st of August.

Sami xx

thankyou to Annie Leiblvitz, Felix Clay and artnet for the images.