Ronnie van Hout commission for Bendigo Art Gallery

Ronnie van Hout’s commission for the Bendigo Art Gallery in conjunction with the Melbourne Art Foundation was unveiled this week at the Melbourne Art Fair. ‘Surrender’ features two larger than life toy soldiers bent over in a gesture of surrender to an unknown conqueror. The work is situated in relation to the war memorial, where the language of memory most often belongs to the victor, but in these sculptures van Hout monumentalises the capitulator and memorialises the idea of giving up and letting go. At the closure of the fair the sculptures will become part of the Bendigo Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

(image courtesy of the Bendigo Advertiser)