DUNCAN MOON-ARTIST IN STONE AND STUCCO

‘It is by carving stone that we discover the spirit of matter. The hand thinks and follows the thought of matter’.
Constantin Brancusi

Duncan is a largely self taught artist, who has also worked as a mason and plasterer on buildings dating from the 14th century onward.
The rigours of fancy plastering and stonemasonry and a bold, innovative approach to surface treatments on new buildings have been central to his development as a sculptor.
Such building experiences have fostered a keen interest in architecture, the built environment and public art. With the lines between art and craft, artist and artisan and art and architecture deliberately blurred, Duncan is habitually found at the interface of these disciplines.

A raw passion for stone, the very flesh of the earth itself, and stucco - the cousin of stone in the masonry idiom - translate into poetic, sensual, lines of Duncan’s involute, manifold formal vocabulary.
The forms, however diverse, are furnished with a dynamism that creates and resolves tension with the interplay of symmetry and asymmetry.

Duncan rhythmically exploits the solid, character of stone - its concentrated density, mass and vast age – with the quality of being, especially when carved in the spirit of Brancusi’s words, subject to minimal human processing. This immediacy and presence offers direct, intimate access into the sculptures’ formality and space.

Robert Lawlor, in his book Sacred Geometry, states; “The geometric structures found in minerals [cubic, rhombohedral, monoclinic, hexagonal, trigonal, tetragonal etc], that are constituents of rock, are borne of the creative ideation inherent in the volume / forms of the [irregular, semi-regular and ultimately] five regular polyhedra”.
The sympathy of geometry with geology becomes apparent in the words themselves and has extended itself to a structural commonality. We are now at the level of crystalline molecular and atomic composition – a world of vibrational frequency, waveforms and harmonic relationships, where stone ceases to be simply defined as inert matter. This, perhaps, is what Brancusi refers to in the opening quote.

An aesthetic derived from ideals of proportional harmony permit Duncan’s concepts, narratives and allegories an agency through geometric imperatives.
Woven around mathematically principled armatures are alluring and irresistibly tactile expressions of the congress of material and composition.
This invites a contemplative engagement with the sculptures and to become subliminally cogent of metaphysical aspects within the manifest world.
Underlying the contemporary appearance of much of Duncan’s work is that of a modern day classicist. With both didactic and innovative approaches to working ancient media, his technical expertise and artistic sensibility are galvanized by a thorough understanding of geometry and composition. Always tempted by the monumental scale, this artist has a great deal to offer today’s architects in terms of building ornamentation and the enhancement of public space.
Removed from this arena to a more personal access, he can offer individual clients a realization of personal desire.

ARTIST CV

EXHIBITIONS:
• 2008 Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe.
• 2006 Music. Etro Café Bistro, Perth.
• 2006 Artist Talk “Geometry as Frozen Music” Etro Café Bistro, Perth.
• 2006 Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe.
• 2005 The Albany Dog Show, Vancouver Arts Centre Albany
• 2004 In House Exhibition, Vancouver Arts Centre Albany

PUBLIC ART PROJECTS:
• 2009 Balingup Village Green Entry Statement
• 2008 loaned ‘Arcanum’ to Midland Redevelopment Authority. Gayle’s Park Midland.
• 2008 Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe
• 2007 Assisted Fred White by fabricating plaster mould for ‘Life to Life’. Bridgetown Public Art Project, private patron.
• 2006 Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe
• 2005 Assisted Jon Tarry with stone design, cutting and fixing with ‘Centuri’. Albany Justice Complex, Percent for Art.
• 2003 Engaged by Poets of the Machine to construct Bookwall, Sprung Writers’ Festival, Vancouver Arts Centre Albany.

SHORT LISTINGS:
• 2007 Mount Barker Community College, public art work. % for Art

CAREER OVERVIEW:
• Present public art commissions and private sculpture commissions.
• 1979 – Present: Restored masonry to numerous public and private buildings.
• Developed innovative techniques in stucco simulating various types of stone, decorative finishes and acoustic renders.
• Covered all aspects of being a banker and walling mason: Restoration work, carved mouldings, carved lettering, cut and polished stone, monumental work, decorative finishes, plain and fancy plastering, tuck pointing.
• Consulted with architects, engineers, council officers, builders and clients on all aspects of restoring masonry and plaster work.
• Prepared reports, preliminary drawings, working drawings, site plans and specifications determined methodology.
• Taught art, rhythm and stonemasonry at or through TAFE, Albany Regional Prison and Regional Training Programs.
• Solely designed and jointly supervised the construction of Western Australia’s first fully publicly accessible, indoor, artificial climbing wall. Commissioned in 1992 by the former Albany Town Council for the Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre.