38 39 ARTLINES 3 | 2025 KEN UNSWORTH Esteemed multidisciplinary artist Ken Unsworth is one of Australia’s most celebrated and accomplished contemporary practitioners. A new display at QAG brings together selected works by the artist — including paintings, sculptures and an installation — held in the QAGOMA Collection. Practising for more than six decades, Unsworth’s diverse works of art are both formally and conceptually ambitious, write curators Grace Jeremy and Emily Poore, often dealing with themes of transformation, human emotion and autobiography. KEN UNSWORTH Ken Unsworth’s artworks are recognisable for their poetic sensibility, material tension, and embodiment of the artist’s deep awareness of the human condition. Known for its clarity of insight and ability to plumb the darkest depths, Unsworth’s practice is philosophical and open-ended. Unsworth is best known for his sculptural installations that dynamically engage with suspension and balance, often exploring the strength and capabilities of materials. In his Inverted Stepped Pyramid 1974, a structure of granite cubes hovers above the gallery floor, supported by dozens of thin steel rods that flow out from the pyramid and onto the floor like yarn or tentacles. The rods are so manipulated that they no longer read as steel, transforming an arrangement of everyday materials into an abstract depiction of gravity and motion. In Formation 1980 also places familiar elements in a seemingly precarious scenario, in one of Unsworth’s ‘most startling balancing acts’, in which three wing-like pieces of plywood temperamentally rest across thin steel rods leaning against the gallery wall.1 The uniformity of this work speaks to mathematical ideas of patterning and repetition, as well as natural formations like mountain ranges and birds in flight. Unsworth’s title echoes this in the dual reference to ‘information’ and ‘in formation’, a play on words reflecting the artist’s wit and sense of humour.2 Tension and balance are also at work in Suspended stone series – Stone circle II 1974–78 — a maquette of Unsworth’s larger installations of hung river stones. In this work, river stones hang from a steel cone, creating the illusion of being held in a forcefield. This gravity-defying effect is enhanced by a mirror that reflects the underside of the stones, and the conical shape of the support on which they appear delicately balanced. Unsworth’s use of ‘raw’ materials — which were not considered ‘traditional’ in artmaking at the time — was influenced by the work of Italian artists associated with the Arte Povera (literally, ‘poor art’) movement, who used natural and found objects in unconventional ways. By removing stones from their natural environment and re-presenting them as buoyant sculptural forms, the artist defies our expectations of their weighty material properties. Above An installation view of ‘Ken Unsworth’ featuring The flight of reason 1991 (Purchased 1992) and Suspended stone series – Stone circle II 1974–78 (Gift of Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM through the QAGOMA Foundation 2025. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program), QAG, July 2025 / Photograph: Chloë Callistemon From top Ken Unsworth / Suspended stone series – Stone circle II 1974–78 / Gift of Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM through the QAGOMA Foundation 2025. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program; and In formation 1980 / Gift of the artist through the QAG Foundation 2024. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Photographs: Chloë Callistemon and Nicholas Umek
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