Watching and waiting
Jon EISEMAN
Australia born 1994
Watching and waiting
Bronze
Invariably cast in bronze, Jon Eiseman’s sculptures are surrealist in mood and depict either a solitary figure in a suit – the ‘common man’- or small groups of figures in attitudes of existential contemplation or palpable anguish.
Inhabiting dreamlike settings, Eiseman’s bald-headed figures are accompanied by large birds, leafless trees or assorted fantasy creatures. Some appear cast adrift on a vast sea in a tiny boat. Others carry the boat on their backs. Several grasp a pilgrim’s staff as does the figure in this work, gazing into the distance, watching and waiting for a sign or revelation Eiseman’s symbolism is otherworldly and unsettling. The human condition and the evocation of a timeless quest are his central concerns.
While art had always been present in Eiseman’s early years, it was not his primary focus until he went to live temporarily in New Zealand where his experience of Maori sculpture proved to be a watershed moment in his career.