Highway Art Series
Highway Art Series - putting the spotlight on art in remote locations -
'Myth and Mirage' by sculptor Antony Hamilton (1955-2020), is a replica of the boat explorer, Charles Sturt took with him to the desert. It was one of two works of art from the Silver City Highway Sculpture Project of 1999, the other being 'CreekLine' by artist, Alison Clouston at Fowlers Gap.
'Myth and Mirage' is an exact replica of Sturt's 30-foot whaler boat which the expedition party carried on its search for the fabled inland sea. The explorer abandoned it at Depot Glen, 40km south of Tibooburra.
The boat was restored in 2014, with the help of the Tibooburra Progress Association. The boat was lowered down and over four days, repaired using copper shingles, cut, moulded, glued and stapled by James Giddy, Kathy Graham from West Darling Arts, and artist Geoff DeMain.
From Samstag Museum of Art: ' Antony (Tony) Hamilton died 9 October, 2020, after a long and tenacious battle with cancer.Born in Euroa, Victoria (Ned Kelly country), in 1955, Hamilton was a graduate of the South Australian School of Art (1978). He'd lived for many years in Beltana in the mid-north of South Australia, a largely deserted town at the edge of the arid plains west of the Flinders Ranges where he'd purchased a stone railway worker’s cottage in 1989. It was an isolated environment that suited his deeply contemplative nature and spiritual desire for immersion in the Australian landscape.
A highly original artist, Hamilton produced his work very slowly, often inspired by invitations from curators. Always, however, he would craft something thoughtful, intriguing and, above all, unexpected. Between projects he typically would find ways to ‘go bush’, avoiding city life by taking up itinerant roles such as camel driving in Broome.
During an irregular career, Hamilton participated in several prestigious exhibitions, including the inaugural 1990 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, curated by Mary Eagleid, and in 1999, a solo exhibition, also at the Art Gallery of South Australia, ‘Anthony Hamilton: The Mythology of Landscape’, curated by Sarah Thomas. A number of his works are held in the AGSA collection.
Hamilton also participated in three exhibitions at the old University of South Australia Art Museum (the precursor to Samstag): a solo exhibition curated by Erica Green, 'Antony Hamilton: The Velvet Target’ (1995); ‘Expanse: Aboriginalities, spatialities and the politics of ecstacy’, curated by Ian North (1998); and ‘Eden & the Apple of Sodom’, curated by Erica Green (2002).
Samstag director, Erica Green, has said that working with Tony Hamilton was a rich and unique experience; one that she cherishes.'
Samstag Museum of Art).
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