Stephen Ralph makes abstract and figurative sculpture. Earlier works have been elaborations upon a basic totemic structure of stacked form in composite towers of cast concrete, modelled terracotta and carved hardwood. Earlier again were minimal, Brancusi-like, turned-wood towers.
In 2018, Ralph started working in marble. These objects are hand carved and overtly figurative, drawing upon his practice of the composite building of an idea now realised in a single material. He first conceives of the work in minuture clay then upscales it to a 1:1 plaster maquette, subsequently translating it via traditional pointing methods to marble. His marble works are pure invention, elevated comprehensions of spatial form, passages in material expression and studied muscularity.
Stephen Ralph (b. 1966, Perth; l. Sydney) graduated in sculpture from the National Art School, Sydney, in 1991. He has been a regular exhibitor at artist-run initiatives in Sydney and Melbourne over twenty years. In 1998, he co-founded Stone Villa Inc, a prominent artist collective and studio complex in Sydney.
Group exhibitions include, Installation Contemporary, curated by Glenn Barkley and The Curator's Department, Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks (2015); Assembly - Contemporary Ceramics, curated by Kay Abude at Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne (2014); Figure and Ground, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, curated by Melissa Loughnan and Jane O’Neill (nee Gallagher) (2012); 20/20, curated by Robert Lake at Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney (2011); City Mambo, at Shin Leh Yuan Art Space, Taipei (2006); Rough Trade (Jay Balbi, Adam Cullen, Callum Morton, Stephen Ralph, Tony Schwensen, Rodney Spooner), curated by Jane Gallagher at Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart (1998).
Stephen Ralph’s work is in the collection of Artbank.
Contact the gallery to discuss commissioning a marble sculpture by Stephen Ralph.