Vega
Lenton PARR
Australia 1924-2003
Vega 2012
Painted Steel
This work is much later in date than Parr’s Plant forms on display to the west of the Restaurant. While the earlier work is notable for its organic shapes, the angularity, bright red paint and horizontal format of Vega recall the gigantic forms of agricultural machinery admired by Parr on youthful visits to Melbourne’s Agricultural Shows.
Parr rejected the convention that sculpture be attached to a base, ensuring that his works were designed and constructed to sit directly on the ground. This approach stresses the physical and conceptual independence of a work from conventional sculpture formats and was pioneered by Picasso and Giacometti and further developed by Parr’s British contemporary Anthony Caro.
Many of Parr’s works, as with Vega, are named after stars, constellations or zodiacal signs. Occasionally, these works actually resemble the disposition of shapes in the eponymous constellation. At other times, as Parr noted, he used the names simply as ‘attractive words’.