Anne Ross, Bird watcher (detail), 2008. Patinated cast bronze, 60 x 23.5 x 19cm. Courtesy: the artist and Bayside Gallery, Melbourne.

For over four decades, Anne Ross has explored pathos and humour within the themes of companionship, belonging and self-containment through the medium of bronze. This first ever major survey of representational sculpture illustrates Ross’s preoccupation with the human and animal form, revealing her interest in key iconography such as dogs, trees, frames, arrows and her ongoing engagement with symbolism and dreamlike imagery. Comprising over 40 works in bronze dating from the mid-1980s to the present, Whichway demonstrates Ross’s major achievements working in patinated cast bronze sculpture.

Bayside-based Ross is best known for her public art commissions internationally and throughout Australia, including the much loved sculpture of a dog titled Summertime which overlooks the dog beach in Brighton. Ross’s fascination with what she calls ‘humanhood’ and the relational dynamics between people and animals is a key theme that runs throughout her practice. Using devices such as twinship, masking, anthropomorphism and interspecies symbolism to reflect on identity and the human condition, she imbues the narrative potential of her sculpture with a comical sensibility and a deep sense of emotion.

Opening Event: Saturday 8 July, 2 – 4pm.

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