Australian Flag No. 1.
Steel, 60 x 45 cm
From the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation Collection
Geoff Ireland was born in 1948. He says:
"I have always enjoyed the geometry of my surroundings. As a child I was often on my father's building sites. There I saw the geometry of wall and roof frames, bricks and windows for placement in the construction of homes.
This interest in geometry was invigorated by the plentiful display of flags during my time studying in the US. A flag is often visually portrayed as two-dimensional; a flat geometric patterned rectangular image. However, in a real landscape when activated by the wind, the flat patterning of the flag changes into a mesmerising organic flowing form.
Flags obviously have powerful levels of meaning embedded in the colour and symbolism of their geometry. Each flag contains a ‘narrative'; sculpture has a long tradition of the ‘narrative'.
In embarking on this series of works I have endeavoured to take on a challenge; to wed geometry and symbolism into visual sensation."
