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Tom Risley is an artist who is strong enough to accept his immediate environment rejecting any easy dependence upon conceptual systems. He is basically a sculptor, basic in the sense that his work deals with sculpture and not theory. An important foundation for Tom's work is an honesty towards his practice. We can see an understanding of the formal concerns of sculpture articulated in his work - not the illustration of theory through and essentially alien medium.
Tom has been working closely with his materials for many years, often using found pieces of aged timber, inserting these into constructions to emphasise the qualities of the wood. This latest exhibition of furniture demonstrates very well Tom's respect for his media and his use of it within a sculptural context. Each piece of furniture is composed from materials found at a particular location and titled with the location. The Cape Direction Chair is principally constructed from the remains of a dugout canoe. Whereas the Kangaroo Point Bed is formed from pieces of architectural turnery, mouldings, and fretsawn panels originally used in locally designed houses.
The use of such materials can be seen as a continuation of Tom's previous practice. He is dealing with the fundamentals of form, opposing weighty surfaces in a visual and physical sense, with elements that are less solid. For example, the interplay of quite bulky branches with woven rope, or wooden lattic work.
Sculptural content within the work could be analysed to a great extent, however, what I feel is more important within an exhibition context is the direction of the sculptural communication. As pieces of furniture the works are given direct reference to the viewer/user. We have