Caleb Shea, Burnside Village

Image: Caleb Shea, Untitled (Big Pink Line). Photograph Sam Roberts.

Caleb Shea is a Naarm/Melbourne based sculptor, with over twenty years’ experience exhibiting across public, commercial and non-profit art galleries. Form, colour and phenomenology are central to Shea’s practice, where transcendental geometric abstraction and blunt simplicity meet in a revision of late-modernist sculpture. His practice is grounded in rich tradition yet is resolutely of the present.  Untitled (Big Pink Line) employs satin polyurethane paint to create a bold graphic surface, accentuating its linear dynamism. The ‘single line’ form is a motif that Shea revisits through playful experimentation, contributing to conversations on sculpture as ‘drawing in space’.

This commission began in 2022 when Burnside Village, long-time champions of South Australian artists, engaged Guildhouse to curate a one-of-a-kind artistic experience for the centre’s expansion as a world-class shopping destination.

In close collaboration with Burnside Village, The Cohen Group, Titanium Property Investment, Buchan, RCP and Hansen Yuncken, Guildhouse brought together six extraordinary artists, Gray Hawk, Jason Sims, Peter Syndicas, Silvio Apponyi, and Seb Humphreys, to deliver unique public artworks that elevate the entire precinct. From concept to completion, this project has spotlighted the incredible talent and craftsmanship that define South Australia’s creative community.

Artist Statement:

Two seemingly contradictory forces emanate from Caleb Shea’s sculptures. Solid arrangements of line and form, almost somber in tone, are imbued with an aliveness and theatricality that exceeds their materiality. With a presence that is both titanic and rhythmic, Shea’s work toys with this compelling tension. 

Form, colour and phenomenology are central to Shea’s practice, where transcendental geometric abstraction and blunt simplicity meet in a revision of late-modernist sculpture. Known for his distinctive visual language, Shea’s contemporary approach offers an animated, sophisticated and playful flare to the discourse. His work is grounded in rich tradition yet is resolutely of the present. 

The ‘single line’ form is a motif that Shea revisits through playful experimentation, contributing to conversations on sculpture as ‘drawing in space’. Untitled (Big Pink Line) employs satin polyurethane paint to create a bold graphic surface, accentuating its linear dynamism. Predominantly working within a ‘human scale’, Shea’s work is situated in direct conversation with architecture and the body. His ‘single line’ forms respond to the built environment, where sculptures become incidental collaborators, directly responding to and activating the surrounding architecture.

Artist Biography:

Caleb Shea is a Naarm/Melbourne based sculptor, with over twenty years’ experience exhibiting across public, commercial and non-profit art galleries. Selected recent solo exhibitions include: Caleb Shea, Linden New Art, Immortal Bottoms, LON Gallery, XTFO, LON Gallery, Echoed Formalism ism ism, Utopian Slumps, For Goodness Sake, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, The Peasants are Revolting, Heide Museum of Modern Art. Selected group exhibitions include: Works from the Collection, National Gallery of V  w/ LON Gallery, The Hotel Windsor, Quarantine Art Fair, w/ LON Gallery, Quarantine Station, Pt. Nepean, Spring 1883 (2021) w/ LON Gallery, The World is a Teenager, LON Gallery, Sydney Contemporary (2018) w/ Galerie PomPom, Call of the Avant-Garde, Heide Museum of Modern Art, In the White Square, Arc One, Rose Coloured Glass, Honeymoon Suite, Fin, Utopian Slumps.

Shea holds a Master of Contemporary Art from the VCA and a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) from RMIT. He received the NGV Women’s Association Award and the Baldessin Foundation Travelling Scholarship.

Shea’s work is held in public and private collections across Australia, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Australian Catholic University, City of Melton, Joyce Nissan, Westpac and the Macquarie Group.

Images: Caleb Shea, Untitled (Big Pink Line). Photograph Sam Roberts.

Additional Media:

Art on Display, Burnside Village

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