Island Wave 2003
YOUNG, Lisa
Registration number
1091859
Artist/maker
YOUNG, Lisa
Title
Island Wave
Production date
2003
Medium
mild steel, paint, concrete footing
Dimensions (H x W x D)
22 fins; 270 cm (fin height); 500 cm (fin length); 34 cm (fin width); 2.5 cm; (steel thickness); 31 m (approx. overall span of sculpture)
Credit line
Commissioned by the City of Melbourne, 2003
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection
Keywords
Summary
Location: Newmarket Reserve, Kensington
Island Wave is a large work that comprises a repeated motif and was originally located on the Franklin and Queen Streets roundabout at the Queen Victoria Market. Young’s motif is a French curve, to which she was drawn for its sensuality and its past use as a mechanical drawing aid for the technical works executed by engineers and architects. The repetition of this motif along the curve of the roundabout creates a sense of movement, particularly for the motorist travelling alongside it. It is scaled to give the sensation of both moving in rhythm to and being engulfed by a wave. Unlike a solid monolithic sculpture, there is a ‘lightness’ about Island Wave, which is achieved by its thinness, its open form and the sense of movement it evokes. Island Wave engages both the motorist and pedestrian, and its location ensures that it has a local and international audience. In 2021 the sculpture was relocated to its new home at Newmarket Reserve in Kensington as part of the City of Melbourne’s QVM renewal program.