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Brad Craperi's first one-man exhibition consisted of a series of carved wooden heads, a handful of paintings whose frames stole most of the attention, and two leather masks from a W.B. Yeats play for which the artist did the design.
The strength of the exhibition, however, clearly lay within the wooden sculpture series ... the predominant feature being the repeated motif of a strongly contoured masculine head with exaggerated, and at times unnatural looking features. In contrast to the somewhat whimsical nature of an earlier piece, Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor, currently touring Queensland as part of the Queensland Art Gallery's exhibition Into Space: The Language of Sculpture, these works evoke a more solemn, introspective mood in keeping with the dark, sombre tones of the wood.
Two rather interesting pieces, entitled Pleasure Horse 1 and Pleasure Horse 2, were designed as seats and comprise a carved head attached to a 'body' resembling a carpenter's work horse. Despite the deceptive name, it is this concept rather than that of a rocking horse, that the artist wished to express. Indeed , in Pleasure Horse 1, a small length of chain replaces the mouth, rendering the head mute. Here then is a human/horse which, as a seat, must bear a burden for the sake of another's pleasure and comfort. Being armless and denied speech, it is to a great degree defenceless. Inherent within these particular pieces is the notion of humankind being placed at the level of animals.
Craperi 's sculptures function effectively to break down the barrier between the viewer and the work of art which is so firmly entrenched in the "DO NOT TOUCH" syndrome of the majority of