John Meade Round World

7 October –
4 November 2023

“Recently I set myself an exploratory challenge in the studio to make a series of sculptures using only circles and ellipses as a starting point. I began by tig-welding multiples of these two shapes in similar proportions with 3.2mm mild steel wire. I’d then construct a wireframe using one or the other of these elementary forms without having a pre-existing image in mind and continue working it until I arrived at something . . . and then onto the next one. Through the process of making, I reflected on the geometry of the shapes, and how they align with the real-world phenomenon of circular or elliptical motion in nature.

The intention of the task was to rely on my hands like a water diviner with a dowsing rod. I would never know what the outcome would be, and the process was charged with uncertainty. As it is the thinking hand that acts, the strategy suggests a different type of intelligence that draws, only in part, on memory and inclinations of previous styles.”

– John Meade
September, 2023

John Meade would like to thank Benjamin Storch, Nadine Christensen, Jethro Harcourt, Stephen Insall, Salazar Quas, and Sutton Gallery for their ongoing support in the development of this exhibition.

Selected solo exhibitions

Round World, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2023; Sign Language, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne, 2021; Something for Everyone, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2019; Set Pieces, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2016; Autumn 2014, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2014; Objects to Live By: The Art of John Meade, Latrobe Valley Regional Gallery and touring nationally, 2010-2011; Show Business, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2009; Incident in the Museum 2: John Meade, MUMA, Melbourne, 2005; Dreamer, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, 2004; Objects and Protestations, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2003; Propulsion, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2001.

Selected group exhibitions

LAZAR!, Hayden’s Gallery, Melbourne, 2022; Who’s Afraid of Public Space?, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2022; Connecting the World through Sculpture: In the Air, Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), Melbourne, 2021; . . . illegible . . ., MADA Gallery, Melbourne, 2019; Brent Harris/John Meade, Neon Parc, Melbourne, 2018; TarraWarra Biennial: From Will to Form, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, 2018; Benglis 73/74, Neon Parc in association with Sutton Project Space and TCB, Melbourne, 2014; The Gathering ll, A Survey of Australian Sculpture, Wangaratta Art Gallery, Wangaratta, 2014; Sleep on the Left Side, Gallery Seven Art, New Delhi, 2012.

Artist’s profile