ANDREW ROGERS ‘I Am’ at the National Gallery of Australia Sculpture Garden

March 2, 2024

Andrew Rogers’ ‘I Am’ has been recently installed in the National Gallery of Australia Sculpture Garden in celebration of the institution’s 40th anniversary. Overlooking Lake Burley Griffin, the stainless steel work installation in this location has a “special resonance for Rogers … so many years of creativity on an international scale; this recognition in Australia is a significant milestone.”

‘I Am’ is a delicately balanced form: tightly curling and then unfurling as it extends upwards and outward in a continuously rippling spiral shape to reveal a warm glowing interior. Rogers says: “We are all individuals possessing the sanctity of a singular life and the ability to express ourselves. At the same time we are part of the society within which we live. ‘I Am’ is a metaphor for that relationship with the organic rippling and pulsating, ribbed and undulating outer surface acting as a counterpoint to the delicate, highly polished interior world of our thoughts. This individual figurative form is to remind us that it is the individual that makes our world a place of justice and compassion.”

This installation co-incides with the placement of the newest Rogers sculpture ‘The Air We Breath’ at Collins Square in Melbourne in the lobby of Tower 5. This will join the collection of other significant contemporary art pieces by iconic Australian artists, including John Olsen, Dion Horstmans, Tyrone Wright (Rone), and Yannima Pikarli.

Image caption: Andrew Rogers, ‘I Am’ 2016, Stainless Steel 220 x 98 cm