Brian Crossman
Sculptor and woodworker
I’ve been an avid woodworker since my teens making furniture and carving. As a new migrant to Australia some 35 years ago, one of my first impressions was the beauty of its trees and majestic redgums. In the past many of these trees were used for railway sleepers and heavy construction but now these sustainable woods are being used more and more in furniture. I enjoy the challenge working with such tricky but beautiful woods with their temperamental grains and unpredictable gum veins.
I have published a couple of articles in ‘The Australian Woodworker’ and ‘Woodcarving’ and over the years transitioned from furniture to concentrate more on sculpting.
Made from recycled Oregon and coloured MDF -a material made from sawdust.
64cms tall
$2,500
Marri and resin. When studying chemistry, I started to read books on art and Brancusi’s Bird in Space was the inspiration for me to become a sculptor. Being an inveterate ‘gonna’, I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that, it has only taken 50 years to complete my version of this 20th century classic.
110cms tall
$2400
Made from a salvaged plum tree and aluminium, the title is based on the different colours and grains that can occur in a tree.
62cm tall
$2,800
Currently I’m in a retro phase being influenced by Brancusi, Hepworth and the constructivists.
Another influence is my science background with some of the abstracts being based on the polygons of cyclic molecules. I also name torsos with the Greek letters used in science.
Recycled redgum railway sleeper and aluminium. Based on the chemical formula and hexagonal shape of benzene
62 cm tall
$990
Recycled redgum railway sleeper and aluminium with traces of resin. Based on the chemical formula and three joined hexagons of the chemical phenanthrene.
53 cms tall
$1200
Recycled redgum railway sleeper and aluminium with traces of resin. This is a result of me breaking my own rules. It started with a mistake of drilling holes in the wrong place. Normally after making such a mistake my anger rises, so normally I put a project aside to calm down. I didn’t in this case but continued so made another and another mistake. Almost to the point of discarding the piece I remember the Japanese concept of wabi sabi – the idea that objects don’t always have to be perfect, there can be a certain beauty in asymmetry and imperfections. 47cms tall $1100
Marri and stainless steel. Just trying to make a pleasing abstract with a pleasing name. Sometimes it reminded me of a sailing ship and sometimes Broome’s Staircase to the Moon.
41cm tall x 67 cm wide
$2400