TURNER GALLERIES... 2011 EXHIBITIONS > geoff overheu: the inevitability of laughter

Geoff Overheu’s exhibition of remarkable new work centres on the kangaroo.

Geoff is a sculptor whose work for several years has been inspired by his experience working on the land as a farmer. For this intimate exhibition of new work he has cast in bronze the head and several arms of a kangaroo. The arms, finishing in paws with ferocious looking claws, gently cradle things of fragility, such as a light globe or a crystal ball. Other pieces incorporate solar technology, with one paw holding a solar panel and the other a light, or a petri dish with a small solar powered toy insect.

Several pieces have a surface ornamentation of lace or tribal tattoo patterning. It visually allows the viewer to appreciate them as a purely decorative object, whilst repulsing them at the same time. The patterns subtly refer to the contemporary fashion of body ornamentation with tattoos, as well as to the branding and marking of animals in farming practice to identify them.

The kangaroo is a strong Australian symbol, representing the difference and distance between Australia and the rest of the world. It is tied to images of the land, our coat of arms, found on our coins, logos and mascots. It’s our unofficial national animal emblem.

However, kangaroos can be the bane of a farmer’s life, especially in heavily cleared farmlands in periods of low rainfall. They damage fences, eat and trample crops, and compete with domestic livestock for water and grazing lands as they travel further seeking food and shelter. Geoff was a fourth generation farmer for twenty-five years, and still lives on the land. He knows the kangaroo habits and its symbolic significance intimately.

Geoff studied Fine Arts at Central TAFE in Perth, graduating in 2001. He went on to obtain a degree from Curtin University in 2003 and a BA Hons in Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne in 2004. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, including a solo exhibition in Basel last year. Geoff’s work can found in several public, private and corporate collections.

looking for icarus bronze, solar component 24 x 30 x 15cm 2011 $2,800
buck bronze 32 x 28 x 19cm 2011 $2,800	touching the echo bronze 10 x 9 x 12cm 2011 $990
wheatbelt pop bronze 7 x 8 x 11cm 2011 $990 sold	reaching for the echo bronze 16 x 12 x 22cm 2011 $1,300
holding the echo bronze 18 x 20 x 10cm 2011 $1,400	stop/pause bronze 34 x 12 x 17cm 2011 $1,700
most things are ok bronze 20 x 13 x 16cm 2011 $1,200	my second cousin's brother's kid bronze 14 x 13 x 16cm 2011 $1,200
blessed 1 bronze, mixed media 28 x 9 x 23cm 2011 $1,500	blessed 2 bronze, mixed media 32 x 10 x 18cm 2011 $1,500
south central wheatbelt bronze 12 x 47 x 8cm 2011 $2,800 sold
deficit bronze, mirrors 24 x 11 x 24cm 2011 $1,700	form your own corporation bronze, glass, solar component 18 x 13 x 29cm 2011 $1,700
deficit 2 bronze, mirror 20 x 13 x 22cm 2011 $1,700	emergency bankruptcy bronze, mixed media 18 x 9 x 29cm 2011 $1,600
corporate pop bronze, glass 30 x 33 x 23cm 2011 $2,800	ferals bronze, mirror 19 x 12 x 17cm 2011 $1,500
play/pause/stop/play bronze, solar component 33 x 39 x 31cm 2011 $3,000	macropod akitsaws bronze 27 x 27 x 8cm 2011 $2,400
light of the world bronze, solar component 53 x 39 x 17cm 2011 $3,000	i cannot reconcile what i feel with what i see bronze 9 x 7 x 16cm 2011 $1,100
everything that was left was mine bronze 39 x 23 x 17cm 2010 $2,400	touched bronze 35 x 10 x 10cm 2011 $1,700
darwin's dilemma polyester resin, metal ring 30 x 30 x 22cm 2011 $1,800