Public Sculptures by Delia Prvacki | Poetry, Dance, Day in the City, Music, Night
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Delia Prvacki, Dance, 2000
Stoneware, stains, oxides and gold
NUS Museum Collection, Gift of Fairmont Singapore
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Sculptures displayed in the lobby at Fairmont Singapore
(formerly Raffles The Plaza)
Photo courtesy of Delia Prvacki
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The sculptural grouping embodies layers of ideas and
inspiration. When Delia was invited to submit a proposal for the commission in
2000, the hotel’s ambience provided the starting point for her artistic
formulation. The diversity of human encounters taking place around the clock in
such establishments captivated her senses, particularly the dynamic space of
the lobby where lively conversational exchanges, laughter, music and footsteps
melded into a lyrical soundscape. The sculptures were conceived as an integrated composition articulating
life in this cosmopolitan setting.
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Delia Prvacki, Music, 2000
Stoneware, stains, oxides and gold
NUS Museum Collection, Gift of Fairmont Singapore
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The hotel lobby of Raffles The Plaza sported a predominantly
brownish colour scheme and in keeping with the aesthetic intent of the
interior, the artist left the ceramic sculptures largely unglazed to retain the
natural hues of clay. ‘In public artworks, the pieces I make are conceptually
and visually coherent with the space. It allows people to relate better to the
surroundings’ explains Delia.
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Delia Prvacki, Clockwise: Poetry, Day in the City, Music, Night
2000, Stoneware, stains, oxides and gold
NUS Museum Collection, Gift of Fairmont Singapore
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The sinuous lines on Dance capture the graceful movements of
this art form while the motifs and colour of Music reference the fluid designs
on the body of blue and white Chinese ceramic wares. Poetry which takes the
form of a blade of grass arching from the wind is Delia’s response to Leaves of
Grass, a book of poems by American Walt Whitman. A botanical species that
endures despite environmental upheavals, a blade of grass is a signifier of the
resilience of life. Broad at its base and gently curving and tapering towards a
pointed tip, the motif is also presented on Odyssey, a mural installed at the
NUS University Hall in 2005. Among the five sculptures, only Poetry has its
principal surface fully glazed to allow for swashes of gold to be applied over
the body.
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| A preliminary study of the support structure holding sections of the sculpture |
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| Installation, 8 April 2015 |
The artworks are designed and constructed in a modular form.
Each sculpture comprises between four to six sections which are assembled on
top of one another. As they were scheduled for installation only when
furnishing works in the hotel lobby had been completed, the artist conceived of
this modular design to alleviate the need for heavy mechanical hoisting aids
and scaffolds. Each section was made in a size which could be lifted by hand
and positioned into the niches of the lobby wall. Co-incidentally, this
construction also simplified the task of transporting the artworks when they
were being relocated to NUS.
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| Alice Lee Plaza, NUS Museum |
Installing the sculptures at NUS brought together
curatorial, conservation, engineering and estate management expertise.
Selection of a new site took into account the original artistic intention for
the works to be lined in a specific sequence and viewed frontally. A fitting
spot was identified in the NUS Alice Lee Plaza, at the water feature across the
entrance from NUS Museum. Careful consideration was given to the stability of
the artworks and the safety of individuals who would be in close proximity to
them. The support configuration consists of a heavy base with a spine which
prevents the sections of the sculpture from being accidental dislodged. For
each support structure, the height of the spine, its angle of tilt and the
positioning on the base are customized according to the internal construction
of the artwork.
(Written by: Foo Su Ling)
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