'Symmetria' by Robert Owen, 2022

Symmetria is a vibrant and playful, muscular sculpture that offers a unique and memorable experience at Highpoint. The intention of the work is to provide a visual metaphor for the positive process of transformation and change. It references the local Maribyrnong history of industrial innovation in pipemaking, as well as using the geometry symbolically referenced in the Pioneer Women’s Shelter in Pipemakers Park, to acknowledge Maribyrnong’s historic pioneering women.

Artwork Inspiration –

PIPEMAKING

The artwork is inspired by Walter Reginald Hume (1873-1943) and Ernest James Hume (1869-1929), pipemakers who began manufacturing concrete pipes from 1910. Walter Reginald Hume was an Australian inventor and industrialist known for inventing modern techniques of producing pipes. He was called ‘one of Australia’s greatest Captains of Industry’ in a newspaper article in 1943.

MARIBYRNONG: ACTION IN TRANQUILLITY

Symmetria’s form is static while suggesting the flow of energy moving in different directions, which links to the title of ‘Maribyrnong: Action in Tranquillity’. The 1989 publication by O.Ford & P. Lewis tells the story of Marbyrnong’s Wurundjeri and migrant cultural history.

THE PIONEER WOMEN’S SHELTER stands in Pipemaker’s Park on the banks of the Maribyrnong River. The sculptural form of Symmetria originates from classical geometry of Plato that references the Shelter and story of Maribyrnong’s pioneering women.

FROM CONCRETE TO STEEL

The concept design is a transformation of the geometry of a Dodecahedron. Through an intuitive play of its 20 nodes and 30 edges, the edges are scaled to a muscular steel pipe form.
 

Highpoint is proud to present 'Symmetria' as part of its Highpoint Art Journey.