Featured Artwork
Icarus by Jan Brown
Icarus by Jan Brown
Artist - Jan Brown
Title - Icarus, 2009
Medium - Bronze
Location - Civic
Commissioned - 2009
Jan Brown is one of the Canberra region’s most important and influential sculptors. Trained in the UK under Henry Moore, she has inspired many generations of students and has exhibited nationally and internationally. For her dedication to the visual arts and endeavours on its behalf, she has been made a member of the Order of Australia and an Emeritus Fellow of the Australia Council.
Brown’s work is in the collections of the Australian National University, Artbank, New Parliament House, the ACT Legislative Assembly, the National Library of Australia and a major collection of her work is held by.the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
This sculptural group could be seen as a delicate and witty reference to the city as home to many of the nation’s decision makers. While the Icarus myth warns of the folly of pride, Brown’s peculiar take on the story asks us to sympathise with the audacity of Icarus’s ambition and to accept the inevitable tragic conclusion to the tale.
The ACT Public Art Panel identified the Icarus series by Jan Brown for acquisition under the Percent-for-Art Scheme following her exhibition at Beaver Galleries in 2008. The works have been scaled up and casts made at the Australian National University Sculpture Workshop. The finished pieces were cast at the Meridian Foundry in Melbourne.
Since its installation in 2009, Icarus has fast become one of the most loved public artworks in Canberra.
To find out more, please visit the Public Art database here
Artist, Jan Brown, with Icarus
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