Leslie Oliver’s artistic practice has a double life. On the one hand he is a filmmaker and a director of the Sydney Film School, and on the other hand a sculptor of found objects and abstract forms. As distant as these artistic fields may seem, Oliver explains how, for him, the processes required to create both types of work correspond. “As a filmmaker… At every stage of the process we are trying to build ‘characters’ that stand, live, are credible, engaging and reveal fundamental human qualities. A story is about revealing a character… As a sculptor I am thinking more and more in the same way, though my characters are seemingly static, they need to have a narrative to generate a sense of life and engage the viewer.” When viewing ‘The Stone Helps The Balance‘, a story forms through the multiple elements within the work’s design and is cleverly reflected and precipitated by its title.

A smooth copper hemisphere provides the colour and base to this work. The hemisphere has small dents and intrusions, and has been finished so that its top is darker with black colourings and gradually fades to a luminescent metallic colour towards the bottom. Around the rim is a section of hand painted and scratched multi-coloured triangular shapes that add a playful quality to the work, as well as providing a strong contrast to the black, monochromatic, flat top. Upon the top of the hemisphere is a tall architectural looking structure made from various bits of metal painted black. This construction appears to be pointing vertically and horizontally in one direction, creating dynamism that gives weight to this side of the hemisphere’s surface. Next to this structure is a half of a stone, also black, protruding from the flat base, adding a further weightiness. One of the long forms from the structure extends across, over the barren side of the hemisphere. From its arc-like appendage hangs a stone, in its natural colour, below the hemisphere’s surface. It is literally hanging by a thread and, with its tendency to sway even with the slightest vibrations, is threatening the balance of the entire world that Oliver has created. It appears that if the stone were to fall, the weight of the structure on the hemisphere’s surface would cause it to topple over. Oliver’s ability to assemble works that are predominately abstract, but formulate narratives through manipulations of colour, shape and line, reveals the complexity of form his sculptures contain.

Image: Leslie Oliver, ‘The Stone Helps The Balance’ 2009, copper plated mixed metals, stone, 27 x 31 x 20cm