![]() The rough, red, cracking grain of the wood runs length-ways across the piece, like gullies and rivulets spreading across a parched, burnt land. ![]() Like all his work, this object is an argument he has made with his hands. In his workshop in Northcote, Melbourne, he worked to accentuate the warp in the wood by curving the edges of the slab, creating a long, bowing channel, almost three metres long and over a metre wide. What others had dismissed as damaged wood, Damien saw as creative possibility: he relished the opportunity to work with wood that had been ‘cooked, cured and crazed by the sun’. Damien discovered the thick slab in a miller’s yard in Wodonga, where it had lain exposed to the elements for years, slowly warping in the heat. The river red gum ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis) once grew on the banks of the Murray River. A couple of anxious visitors shuffle over to investigate as Damien tells me how he made this wobbling wooden bowl, and why he chooses to work with the hardest, most challenging timbers. ![]() The enormous, curved slab of river red gum rocks back and forth on the gallery floor, casting a wavering shadow over the ‘Do Not Touch’ sign at its base. With a mischievous smile, Damien Wright gives the exhibit an unceremonious kick. ![]()
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