By Michael Newhouse
FROM the shopping Mecca that is Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall to the trendy modernism of the Docklands development, Simon Perry’s work is admired by tens of thousands of people each day.
And now the internationally renowned sculptor can add Caroline Springs to his impressive lists of public exhibitors.
Mr Perry’s latest work, On Tap, which stands next to Lake Caroline in the growing Caroline Springs housing development, was unveiled late last month, and has been attracting quite a bit of attention in these days of water restrictions and debilitating drought.
A five-meter steel tap grips onto a reflective piece of stainless steel fashioned into the shape of a droplet of water. The work is intended to mirror society, and move with it. The drop is attached to a turnbuckle, swaying with the wind.
“I wanted to make something that was kinetic, a drip of water, if you like, that reflected the whole world,” Mr Perry, whose Public Purse sculpture sits in the Bourke Street Mall, said last week.
As it sits, the world it reflects is Caroline Springs.
Property group Delfin Lend Lease, the company responsible for the Caroline Springs development, commissioned the $150,000 project over a year ago as a gift to the community.
“It’s a very busy growth area, there’s a lot going on there,” Mr Perry said about the development, speaking from RMIT University, where he lectures in sculpture.
He says the issues surrounding drought and water restrictions weren’t as pressing when he designed the piece as they are today, but understands why it has attracted attention across the state after only a couple of weeks on display.
“A dripping tap, or something that’s about to drip has been switched off, or it’s been left on,” he said, “there’s obviously implications about that.”
So far he’s had nothing but praise for his work, but after decades crafting artworks designed to capture the public’s attention, he knows it will get people talking – and that’s the point.
“Public artworks often create discussions in communities, but the fact that this ties into another discussion, which is about sustainability, and water and all those kind of things is also good,” Mr Perry said.
