The sculptural artists inspiring our home interiors

Fascinated with the physicality of materials and construction and their narrative potential, contemporary sculptural artists push barriers as they explore the duality of art and home.

We speak to four sculptural artists set to inform the look and feel of our living spaces.

Clementine Maconachie

The delicate beauty of Clementine Maconachie’s folded steel aluminium sculptures and Hebel-and-wood totems belie their strength and physically intense creative process.

“I try to bring a softness to materials often considered hard and cold,” says the artist and former Olympic swimmer who cuts, grinds, carves and sands each piece and uses her body weight to shape them.

The self-taught artist, who works from her industrial studio in Botany, says safety equipment is a priority.

“I always wear masks and eye protection; having steel dug out of your eyeball is not fun,” she says.

Maconachie has creativity and sporting prowess in her bones. Her mother is an abstract artist and her father was a doctor, professional runner and VFL footballer.

She came to art as a profession after retiring from international swimming and working as a furniture designer and visual merchandiser for fashion brand Sass & Bide.

Maconachie creates organic shapes that embrace the beauty of imperfection, and each artwork expresses emotion through movement or balance.

“My art is simple and made with feeling that I hope comes across, ” she says.

Maconachie is working on several projects, including a series of sculptures to be exhibited in a group show at the Palais de Tokyo during the Paris Olympics.

“I’m off to my second Olympics 24 years apart – it’s a full-circle moment,” she laughs. “I strive to keep evolving, and I hope to bring a little bit of beauty into the world.”

Tan Arlidge

“I like to think people can feel movement in my sculptures,” says artist Tan Arlidge, who crafts thermoformed polymer into soft, tangible curves using high heat, blankets, her body and, finally, a grinder and sanding tools for polish.

“I begin with an idea of material and finish, and test out the shapes using adhesive paper on a board,” she explains. “I always have size in mind and an aim to create a particular balance in the shape.”

The former visual merchandiser and set designer says creativity requires patience.

“It took me years to trust my instinct and believe in myself,” says Arlidge, who is self-taught and works out of a beautifully textured brick studio close to Bondi Beach.

“I love the raw walls and floor; they are juxtaposed to my sculptures’ smooth, clean lines.”

Arlidge exhibited at Art Miami in Florida last year and is exploring motion and photography to further express her ideas.

“I am filming a new series of work among the sand dunes in Anna Bay, and I can’t wait for people to enjoy it,” she says.

Jasmine Raisbeck

“My works are imperfect by their very nature, and there is beauty and a story in that, particularly in a world where everything is perfected via machine,” says Perth artist Jasmine Raisbeck, who oscillates between paint and clay to create her art.

“I love working with clay because it gets me in my body and shuts the brain off; it’s a very meditative practice,” she says.

Raisbeck handcrafts beautiful items with a utilitarian function, such as clocks, tableware, vases, lamps and ceramic board games like backgammon, chess, and snakes and ladders.

“I like to think they are conversation starters that facilitate human connection,” she says.

Currently hard at work on her first solo show, the largely self-taught creative makes useful objects that look good in her home.

“I couldn’t find a clock, so I decided to make one and was inundated with orders,” she says. “I am constantly learning what clay can do and can’t.”

Henryk

Former Brisbane fashion photographer Henryk began dabbling with paint post-pandemic during a pause in work.

The challenge of seeing how much thick paint he could keep on a canvas before it cracked led him to his signature style that’s drawn many devotees, including Dannii Minogue.

“I wanted to push wall art as far as I could before it fell off the wall,” the Sydney artist says. ” I also wanted more depth from the work, so I moved into trying a polymer and concrete mixture that I keep tweaking.”

When he could not find brushes large enough, Henryk made his own.

He says his biggest challenge is weight. “I wanted to go bigger, but the concrete works were over 200 kilograms, so I learned the process of mould making and resin casting.

“It’s time-consuming and expensive, but now I can go big and have it look heavy but be light at about 30 to 40 kilograms.”

The artist, who is preparing for an upcoming exhibition in Sydney’s Farage building, describes his colourful works as “visceral, intense, raw gestural abstraction”.

“I play long-form house music through headphones to detach from everything as I chase the perfect stroke,” Henryk says.

“If I’m feeling happy and light, it looks different than if I’m feeling heavy – but I tend to only feel like painting when I’m happy.”