Danny Morse

I work with painting, photography, and sculpture to playfully construct visual witticisms that touch upon collective nostalgia with a pop sensibility. The natural world and its materials play a significant role in my practice; wood from fallen trees and found rocks have been transformed into common consumer goods such as sports balls, cricket bats, table salt, pool toys and multicolour BIC pens available from local stores such as Bunnings, Office Works, or Rebel Sport. Consumer values and obsessions are also explored in my paintings; the Australian landscape, human-made structures, tools, and film stills come together to tell a story of personal reflection.

During two Cementa residencies in Kandos I have been drawn to the industrial ball mill located in the garden of the Kandos Museum. A long tube measuring up to 15 meters with a two-meter internal diameter (my height plus a hand), the ball mill was used to roll grapefruit sized iron balls and crush the ‘clinker’ into cement. The ball mill is an integral part, not only of the cement making process, but the historical era of the town and carries within its metal tiled walls the echoes of the town’s former industry and workers. For Cementa24 I will cap the internal ends of the ball mill with two large mirrors and lighting, creating an infinite tube, a portal into the past and the future for the viewer who stands, anchored in the present.