Image: Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, Brunswick
A sculpture by Australian artist Clive Murray-White has been installed on the front deck of Charles Nodrum Gallery in Richmond, Melbourne, which is also offering the work and a selection of the artist’s large-scale marble sculptures for sale.
Titled ‘Assisted Suiseki No. 24’, the sculpture is dated 2018–2026 and is made from Chillagoe marble, with a bluestone base and steel plinth. The sculpture itself measures 56 by 40 by 52 centimetres; including its base and plinth, it measures 162 by 50 by 50 centimetres. The gallery has listed the work at A$35,000.
The announcement also identifies six further works available through the gallery. They include ‘Assisted Suiseki – Land and Sea’ (2025), made from Chillagoe marble, bluestone and ironbark timber, and measuring 80 by 80 by 60 centimetres; ‘Michelle Sixteen’ (2019), a 110-by-70-by-40-centimetre Chillagoe marble sculpture; and ‘Art over Modern Art No. 3’ (2018–2025), made from Chillagoe marble and granite and measuring 74 by 45 by 55 centimetres. Each is priced at A$35,000.
The remaining works are ‘Michelle Eleven’ (2018), made from Buchan marble and priced at A$24,000; ‘Assisted Suiseki No. 9’ (2020), made from Chillagoe marble with a bluestone base and timber plinth and priced at A$24,000; and ‘Portrait of an Artist’ (2010), made from Chillagoe marble with a granite base and priced at A$24,000. ‘Michelle Eleven’ measures 61 by 43 by 35 centimetres, while ‘Portrait of an Artist’ measures 50 by 30 by 38 centimetres. The listed dimensions for ‘Assisted Suiseki No. 9’ are 54 by 40 by 40 centimetres, or 150 by 56 by 40 centimetres including its base and plinth.
Murray-White lives and works in Alvie, north of Colac in Western Victoria, where he continues a marble practice developed since the 1980s. The gallery identifies Chillagoe in northern Queensland and Gocup in New South Wales as his primary marble sources. Born in England in 1946, he emigrated to Australia in 1959 and studied at Brisbane Technical College, the Guildford School of Art in England and RMIT University in Melbourne.
His early work included welded and cast metal and found objects. During the 1970s he also explored Post-Object and performance art, including ‘Drawing for – Adelaide Festival smoke display’ and ‘Smoke Sculpture’, performed at the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. In the 1990s, his marble sculptures became figurative, with human faces emerging from craggy Australian stone. His work is held in collections including the Australian National Gallery, the National Gallery of Victoria and Australian Parliament House. Charles Nodrum Gallery, established in 1984, presents painting, sculpture, works on paper, graphics and photography at its Richmond premises. It is open Wednesday to Saturday from 11am to 5pm, or by appointment.
