Ben Apfelbaum

SCULPTURE BY THE SEA TURNS 22

The launch of this 22nd Sculpture By The Sea was unusual in that the Sculpture Prize announcement was delayed. This was due to the very wet first half of October which prevented some of the sculptures from being installed. The organisers felt that the sculpture award winner should be announced once all the sculptures have been erected.

David Handley announced that more than one hundred and thirty artists from twenty one countries have created this year’s one hundred and seven sculptures. Towards the end of his speech a tearful Handley dedicated this year’s exhibition to the life and career of the late Matthew Harding, a frequent exhibitor and supporter of Sculpture By The Sea.

Despite the lack of an overall winner some winners were announced. In particular, the Helen Lemeriere scholarship recipients were announced as follows: Senior sculpture Hossein Valamanesh from Adelaide, mid career sculpture Kevin Draper from Albany and emerging sculpture Britt Mikkelsen from Perth. The scholarship is worth $30,000 and the bequest is managed by the Perpetual Trustee, whose General Manager Scott Hawker was on hand to present the winners with a sculptured trophy.

The  exhibition was declared open by Michael Rose, Chairman of the Committee for Sydney, who spoke enthusiastically and cogently of the benefits that Sculpture By The Sea brings to Sydney.

Accompanying the exhibition there is a marquee containing miniatures of some of the works as well as other creations suitable for interior display.

If you miss Sculpture By The Sea on the east coast you can see another version of Sculpture By The Sea on Perth’s Cottesloe Beach on the west coast from 18 March 2019.

Sculpture By The Sea runs from October 18 to November 4, 2018

http://www.sculpturebythesea.com

Featured image- Kevin Handley AM and Waverley Mayor John Wakefield with Cool Shit’s sculpture ‘Damien Hirst Looking For Sharks’. All pics by Ben Apfelbaum.

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.