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Decoupage on fibreglass, marine sealant
345 x 370 x 50cm
2020 Montalto Sculpture Prize Winner
Acquired 2020
This large scale sculpture presents a giant broken plate form, rendered in fibreglass and finished with meticulous decoupage. Installed within the bushland at Montalto, its fractured curves catch shifting natural light, giving visitors the sense of walking around an oversized fragment of cultural memory. The placement allows the imagery to unfold slowly as viewers move around it, revealing detail, texture and narrative across its surface.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Robert Hague
Robert Hague’s drawings bring together the feel and grandeur of antiquity with an often biting commentary on the modern world. By embracing classical techniques he manages to make the bitter into the sweet and shows us that contemporary art can be timeless. His ceramic plate drawings employ the metaphor of the souvenir dish, a decorative object that speaks of the politics and culture of the collector, decoration as politics, pattern as ownership and cultural belonging.
This series has been hugely popular, collected by major institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia, and The Golden Fleece is the very first realisation of the work as a sculpture, transforming the plate motif into an actual giant object in space. Hague describes the broken form as a reminder that “against expectations it is our scars and bruises that tell the story of our lives and that it is this that makes us beautiful.
Hague’s practice draws on classical imagery, meticulous draftsmanship and a sculptural language informed by antiquity. Across drawing, printmaking and sculpture, he interrogates cultural inheritance, colonisation, beauty and rupture. His recurring use of plates and ceramic motifs reframes souvenir culture as a political object, while his sculptural translations elevate everyday forms into monumental reflections on history, identity and belonging. The interplay of ornament and fracture is central to his work, using traditional craftsmanship to open contemporary conversations.
SELECTED CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Works collected by major institutions including the National Gallery of Australia.
National recognition for his ceramic plate drawing series.
First realisation of the plate motif as sculpture through The Golden Fleece.
Longstanding contribution to contemporary Australian sculpture and drawing.
HAGUE AT MONTALTO
The Golden Fleece entered the Montalto collection as the winning work of the 2020 Montalto Sculpture Prize. As the first sculptural translation of Hague’s acclaimed plate drawings, it connects directly to his broader investigations into beauty, damage and cultural identity. Within the landscape, the broken plate becomes both an artefact and an interruption, its monochrome detail and monumental scale offering a striking contrast to the bushland setting while honouring the artist’s commitment to making classical aesthetics speak directly to contemporary concerns.
FURTHER INFORMATION
