Jan King delivers her sculpture ‘Monastery’ to the Drill Hall Gallery

Jan King delivered her sculpture ‘Monastery to the Drill Hall Gallery on Thursday 6 December. This sculpture is being donated to the University under the cultural gifts program.

The University is thrilled to receive this elegant and artwork into the burgeoning art collection of over 2,500 works. In 2011 ‘Monastry’ work was featured in a previous Drill Hall Gallery exhibition, ‘Abstraction’, curated by Terence Maloon and Paul Selwood in 2011.

King’s generous gift to the ANU is a fine example of formalist abstraction speaking in a language of line, volume, space, rhythm, and structure. Of her materials, King has said “Working primarily with steel it is the tensile strength and flexibility of the material that I value. I can make a light and open structure using space as an element, literally drawing in space, with steel, while still maintaining a structural strength.”

“One of the captivating things about Jan King’s sculptures is that they present themselves to us as drawings – drawings in three dimensions. Her largest sculptures, in particular, seem to be executed with effortless ease and accuracy – they are just about as beautiful as drawing in our time can decently aspire to be. Yet the impression we receive of physical verve, spontaneity, suppleness and susceptibility to nuance is due to an illusion she contrives.” – Terence Maloon