Nautilus
Geoffrey BARTLETT
Australia born 1952
Nautilus – study with three legs 2011 Stainless steel
Melbourne-based Geoffrey Bartlett’s numerous public commissions are notable for an aesthetic that combines a mechanical or architectural character with naturalistic allusion.
For example, the topmost element of this work recalls the spiral-shape of a nautilus shell, while the tall supporting tripod makes no attempt to conceal its strengthening ribs or its fastenings and footings, thus ensuring that the actual process of fabrication and assembly is expressed in the final form.
Bartlett notes that ‘as an artist, we all draw from nature, (but) it would be folly…to attempt to add to its beauty or mimic its perfection. We at best can only attempt to interpret what we see.
The Nautilus shell is an iconic natural form and seems almost a metaphor for the purity of nature. I have referred to (the) Nautilus shell many times as a central theme in my (sculpture) …movement and latent energy have also remained central themes in my work.