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Tree trunk
250 x 75 x 65cm
Acquired 2005
Carved directly into a fallen tree trunk, The Nature of Mankind presents a softly sculpted human form embedded within the timber’s natural contours. The figure is revealed through a contrasting layer of pale inner wood, inviting visitors to move around the piece and consider its shifting silhouette. Positioned near the olive grove, the work sits quietly in the landscape, emphasising presence, absence and the enduring materiality of the natural world.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Arun Sharma
Arun Sharma is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans sculpture, installation, digital media and large-scale public works. His work often explores the human condition, using the body as a site for examining vulnerability, identity, transformation and the spaces we inhabit. Sharma engages with both traditional and contemporary processes, moving fluidly between organic materials and technologically mediated forms.
Sharma frequently investigates the tension between permanence and impermanence, creating works that highlight the fragility of human experience. His sculptural language blends anatomical precision with symbolic abstraction, and his material choices often reflect themes of renewal, erosion and the passage of time. Across his career, he has produced works that prompt reflection on the ways individuals exist within, and respond to, their environments.
SELECTED CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Exhibited LifeBlood - The Anatomy of Self at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.
Featured in the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
Presented large-scale work in Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi.
Exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
SHARMA AT MONTALTO
The Nature of Mankind was acquired for the Montalto collection in 2005. Its carved figure, emerging from the tree’s natural form, reflects Sharma’s broader interest in the body as both subject and vessel for meaning. Set within the open landscape, the sculpture interacts subtly with shifting light, weather and seasonal change, reinforcing its contemplation of presence, nature and the human imprint on the world
FURTHER INFORMATION
