Outer Rim

Artist Peter Sheehan (Australian, born 1964)

Date1997

Object number00031043

NameDrawing

MediumInk, Arches aquarelle paper

DimensionsSheet: 765 x 575 mm
Overall: 835 x 635 x 40 mm, 4.4 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionAn ink drawing by Peter Sheehan titled 'Outer Rim'. This drawing depicts an aerial view of the stairs leading to Bondi Beach, Sydney. It also illustrates and captures numerous aspects of a typical day at Bondi Beach including: sunbathers and surfers resting on the sand, a group of Japanese tourists descending the stairs to the beach, joggers, people walking and skateboarding down on the pathway and people sitting on the upper stairs in their swimming costumesHistoryIn this drawing titled 'Inner Circle', and another 'Outer Rim' (00031043), the artist has portrayed what are for him the two central features of Bondi Beach: - the surf with surfers and swimmers lolling about in 'Inner Circle', and in 'Outer Rim', the passing parade of beachgoers, skateboarders and camera- equipped tourists in front of the Bondi Pavilion. The two work well as a pair of works . Peter Sheehan is an animator and illustrator who lives in Bondi. These works exhibit a wonderful immediacy in the drawing of the figures, (particularly in the facial expressions of the tourists and swimmers) and in the lines of the surf and architecture of the Pavilion foreshore. The works echo the spirit of the black and white graphic work from the 1940s and 50s. Peter is also a storyteller. 'Inner Circle' and 'Outer Rim' were purchased from Peter Sheehan's Bondi Cauldron exhibition held at Bondi Pavilion in November 1997. They are significant as contemporary representations of the life at Sydney's Bondi Beach. "It's been amazing to observe the people coming to Bondi Beach over the past five years. The lone walkers on brisk mornings and the throngs on 'boiling days' . They all seem to come as if their lives depend on it. It's no secret that life is dependant on renewal. Which made me wonder if a dose of renewal was received on any visit to Bondi? All beaches renew, I had to admit. But why was Bondi such a popular place to receive it? Was it merely Bondis' history? It's proximity to the city? I asked myself if the apparently good effect of a visit to Bondi was simply a place generated by publicity or if Bondi Beach had a volatile transforming energy somewhere in it's nature? I started looking at Big Ben, that lone square rock on the Northern headland (some say washed out of the ocean in a 1912 storm). And I was reminded of 'the stone' alchemists talk about when they are attempting to renew any attitude that may hav hardened in their own lives. The alchemists claim 'the stone' is transformed from 'lead into gold by dredging it out of the unconscious, containing it in a vessel and then gently adding heat".SignificanceAs a resident of Bondi Beach Peter Sheehan has experienced its many moods, inspiring him to liken it to a cauldron. Not only because it looks like a cauldron, the headlands containing the beach, but because it seems to
function like a magical vessel of transformation.