our twelve apostles are found rocks, 11 basalts and one quartzite.
i sourced them from various places in new south wales /australia in 2006, polished them in a backyard in canberra and took them on my travels.
the idea was born on a trip to victoria. we cruised the great ocean road and there they were: numerous mighty rock formations out in the surf……………the twelve apostles!
now these world renown rocks can’t travel……………but ours can.
and that’s what they do: travelling.
i am their guide and i photograph them.
from the ever growing archive the best shot of each sculpture is selected every 4 to 5 years and for sale: in a strictly limited edition of 24 plus 3 artist proofs. that’s 12 for the southern hemisphere and 12 for the north. sydney and vienna.
a catalogue will go with each of these series.
the rocks weigh 1,4 to 5,1 kg and travel in little groups or single or in the dozen.
under certain circumstances the rocks will be for sale too:
a potential buyer will have to agree to let the sculpture travel on. meaning to hand them back to me for a planned journey, but also to invite it to his/her personal trips………….and to take pictures, of course. the story must go on.
so in the long term the little rocks will have been to more places than their guides!
andreas buisman
vienna/sydney
andreas buisman’s rock sculptures want to tell stories. unrequested they assert themselves and their beautiful core, they shine with grey-brown granite crystals and with the full black-green of basalt. its surface structure surprises: the abrupt change of shell and core, a bumpy scar in the rock layer, warpings and ridges.
andreas buisman’s take to the camera surprises again. in his images he provides his sculptures with space and wideness. the position he chooses gives them new dimensions, puts them in relation to the world. it creates new proportions, stages their liveliness.
thus, smaller and larger rock sculptures lie, sit and bathe in sand, soil and water, they crouch on bridges or on solidified lava. insofar they again question this relationship with the world and present themselves as found objects. buisman understands them as travelers, as ambassadors and apostles.
his austrian artist friend has let herself be inspired by this series of images to write a mythological fairytale.
elisabeth weissensteiner knows from her own experience about the shift of well known dimensions. she creates sensitive sculptural installations, thus questioning old structures and inciting stories without words in the heads of the viewers.
elisabeth weissensteiner too lives and works between the worlds of australia and europe, in melbourne and vienna.
elisabeth penzias, vienna
since meeting andreas my family and friends have enjoyed many wonderful times together with him.
we met andreas at a friend’s place. he had arrived from overseas for his participation in “sculpture by the sea”, an international sculpture show along the sydney shores.
since then he has made a giant imprint on many of our lives. we have had numerous adventures together, between the pacific ocean and the rocky granites of australia’s snowy mountains and onwards north west to the red sandy desert, having fun whilst driving many hundreds of miles. always one of his friendly rock sculptures was traveling with us. every now and then it would be photographed amidst the magnificent outback scenery. when we stopped and people came along, they could not refrain from touching its shiny surface.
impressed by his creative talent, we commissioned him to find the right rock to sculpt for my late husband’s tombstone. following fred hollow’s footsteps to his favourite country town, andreas and his wife-to-be fell in love with the kaleidoscope of colours of mount oxley. so it was a great privilege for us to be invited to witness their marriage ceremony in a place that can be seen from fred’s final resting place, the cemetery in bourke.
gabi hollows, sydney
thanks to:
elisabeth weissensteiner, melbourne – vienna
elisabeth penzias, vienna