Dream Boat and Techno Creatures

Richard Coldicutt

Title: Dream Boat and Techno Creatures

Artist/s: Richard Coldicutt

Year: 2007

Category: Integrated/ Sculpture

Site: Rockingham Station

Location Details:

Description:

There are two components to this work – a 6m steel sculptural entry statement at the intersection of Ennis Avenue and Rae Road, and three smaller steel sculptures near the station entry.

Artist/s Statement:

Paramount to the thinking behind the works was the desire to inspire a connection to the coast that this railway line presents, while personalising the space with an identity that would greet both visitors and the local community. Three iconic creatures associated with the area – a blue manna crab, a penguin and a seal – are reinterpreted into sculptures using the form of tools related to the railway. The resultant Techno Creatures present as sentinels to visitors and commuters entering and exiting the station. On a grander scale, the sculpture Dream Boat is a figure in a small boat pulling strenuously away from a pylon in a motion of waves, in pipe that begin as rails and tracks. At ground level, this transformation offers a fish-eye view to passing motorists where a refracted treatment of the form is scripted in calligraphic gestures of pipe-work in the sky. The sculpture seeks to encapsulate a powerful moment where the bonds and associated connections to our land-based existence are released when we enter the boundless freedom of the ocean. The constant motion of cloud formations and the play of changing light on shimmering metal create an ephemeral quality to inspire the journey of this Dream Boat.