Living in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Dónal Molloy-Drum continues to absorb the vast space around him. Through the refinement and expression of simple line and form his practice concentrates on the smaller details within this landscape. The curves, shadows and precarious balance of forms in his sculptures relate to the landscape both emotionally and physically, and are an exploration of self and place.
Lilt Catalogue essay by Phe Luxford 2022
In the space between the unfurling leaf and the protective seed from which it springs, in between the breeze and the landscape over which it travels, and within the cellular structure and its predestined drive toward division, the invisible generative life-force of nature can be sensed. Lilt continues Dόnal Molloy-Drum’s ongoing interest in the proclivity of the natural world and investigates sculpture’s ability to convey something of the enigmatic quality of life's abundance.
Molloy-Drum’s is an ever-evolving, multidisciplinary practice, intentionally fluid and unconstrained by preconceptions. Working from a large barn situated in the Wimmera, the artist draws inspiration from the textures, light and changing seasons of the natural world outside his studio and channels that observed life flow into his work. Synthesising the diverse qualities of wood, stainless steel and glass, the works in Lilt have each been distilled with a sense of living energy, echoing the movements and properties of plants, rocks, air and water, perceived at both a macro and micro level.
Each sculpture possesses a joyful quirk of individuality, appearing enlivened, discursive and in a state of activity. Full of generative visual possibilities, the individual units that the artist coaxes into existence appear to squirm, squeeze and tumble their way into their final collective configurations. Irregular spheres nestle within polished angular crevices. Unruly branches protrude from the tranquil arch of a protective hollow. The contrast between these forms, of textures and opacity, the enduring quality of steel beside the mutable nature of glass and wood, sets up scenarios full of poetic ebullience.
Responding to the visual tensions created when these individual parts are brought together, Molloy-Drum’s assemblages offer visual encounters full of impulsive variety. Each of his titles too propose moments of action, of sonic resonance and buoyancy. In works such as Lilting Song and Whisper, sweeping steel forms appear to tilt in response to the implied force of an air current, suggested through the curved composition of thin metal ribbons. The adjoining glass globules slip and bulge in response to the leaning pressure of their steel companions. In another work, Arc and Flow, we observe a droplet of glass slinking its way upward as though pulled by some invisible force of transpiration. We can also anticipate the slippery downward journey that lies ahead, once this globule reaches the zenith of its journey. At every turn the artist’s forms are engaged in dynamic action.
Full of shimmering surfaces and graceful gestures, Molloy-Drum’s works suggest ideas of cyclic latency and demonstrate the complex and interconnected relationship between all living organisms. Each elemental iteration plays a vital role in a larger world-forming narrative. The works in Lilt are intimate, playful and created very much to a domestic scale. But if we use these sculptures as a kind of ocular lens, if we look through their curves and openings, past the shining reflections caught in their smooth surfaces and out into the landscape beyond, these abstract sculptural forms start to become monumental telescopes, bringing into focus the true mystery of earth’s pulsating activity.
Artist Statement Dónal Molloy-Drum 2022 Born and raised in Ireland I have lived half of my life in Australia, and on reflection I find that these new sculptures relate to this life journey and are an emotional and physical exploration of self and place.
This journey and the influence of the Wimmera region on my arts practice has led me to continually seek refinement of line and form in my work. Drawn to the small detail in this vast landscape, often microscopic, my sculptures have evolved from the natural world into abstract biomorphic structures where shapes encounter one another in a balancing act depicting the temporal nature of all life. Using stainless steel, wood, and the introduction of blown glass to my creative process, organic shapes emerge in sometimes precarious intricacies and intersections to embrace volume and space.
Contrasts such as the duality of light and dark, the natural world and the human world, the spiritual and the physical, strength and fragility, beauty and imperfection, stillness and movement, are a constant in my visual outlook. Where these opposites meet and come together, is the balance I seek in my work. These new sculptures are realised as stories and the scars of time - through forms in space, layers and surface markings.
Dónal Molloy-Drum was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. After migrating to Australia in 1997, he now lives and works in the Wimmera region of Western Victoria. Donal studied Fine Art at the Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork in the late 1980s, majoring in sculpture. Molloy-Drum is a regular exhibitor, with work in public and private collections worldwide, including Microsoft Dublin, South Dublin County Council, the Australian Air Force, Canberra and Horsham Rural City Council. He has been a finalist in various prizes, including the Deakin Small Sculpture Prize (2021), the Swan Hill Regional Gallery Drawing and Print Prize (2020), the Yering Station Sculpture Prize (2019, 2018, 2015, 2014) the Tesselaar Sculpture Prize (2018) and was twice winner of the Yering Station Sculpture Prize People's Choice Award (2018, 2014). He has received travel grants from Creative Victoria (2022, 2020) and Regional Arts Victoria (2016, 2010) and has undertaken commissions for the City of Whitehorse, Horsham City Council and Horsham Regional Art Gallery
