(First published in Australian Horseman magazine Sep-Oct 2010).
ARTICLE & PHOTOS: James Vereker
BRONZE LEGENDS
One of Australia’s leading Stockman artists, Brett ‘Mon’
Garling is gaining a reputation for creating historic sculptures of national identities
be they man or beast. However, an appreciation of life on the land and a love
of horses, have helped launch his artistic career.
Garling’s sculptures of sporting greats, such as a
full-length bronze statue of cricketer Glenn McGrath bowling, have attracted
national publicity. His latest life-size bronze of the legendary ‘Man From
Snowy River’ - depicted on his daredevil descent - in pursuit of the wild
brumby mob, is likely to receive similar exposure.
As a young child, he collected animal specimens and bones, earning
Brett the nickname ‘Monster’ that soon became shortened to ‘Mon’. While his
interest in anatomy grew, the pet name invariably stuck and is still used by family
and friends today.
Mon, a robust-looking man built for
the hard labour of his craft and with a keen eye, had the honour of opening the
annual bush festival at Corryong, Victoria, in April this year. There the
statue “…of a stripling on a small and weedy beast,” was inaugurated. He shared
an anecdote with the crowd. “I was always drawing when I was young,” says Mon.
“When I was about ten, I won first prize at the Walgett Art Show and it was a
drawing of the Man from Snowy River. Even then you can appreciate what an
influence that poem had on me at such a young age. So I’m privileged to finally
be able to make a contribution as a sculptor to the same story as Banjo Paterson....”
Inspiration
Asked about his sculptural influences, Mon cites what he
calls the ‘usual suspects’, listing members of the “Heidelberg School” like
Streeton and Roberts, as well as Septimus Power, Hans Heysen and George
Lambert. Curiously, these are all painters in the realist-impressionist mode. “I haven’t been overly
influenced by any particular sculptor,” says Mon. “Instead, painters have had
more influence on my work than anyone. The figurative work these men did as
painters had so much movement, strength and emotion that I had always seen
their work as being sculptural in form.”
His interest in the ‘painterly’ and ‘textural qualities’ of
such artists is no coincidence, for Mon is a competent painter in his own
right. “You see, originally, I started as a drawer and painter that is after I
attended university in Sydney and then I did a stint of teaching but for the
last 12 years I’ve been working as a sculptor. I still paint a few mornings a
week just for fun.”
Nevertheless, he does share one
strong sculptural recollection. “My first inspiration for sculpture was when I
saw an exhibition of Remington in Sydney as a kid with my mother, which I never
forgot.” Frederic Remington (1861-1909) was an illustrator who travelled from
New York to the western states of America in the 1880s. He decided to
illustrate and write about the life of the disappearing frontier, later
producing a series of paintings and sculptures on themes peopled with cowboys,
Indians, buffalo and cavalry, depicting the ‘Old West’. It is easy to
appreciate that such dramatic images made an impression on young Mon and left a
latent desire to interpret in bronze ‘the legendary ride of a stockman’ many
years later.
Mature Artist
Garling is proud to claim his ‘self-taught’ status as a
painter and sculptor, competent in the figurative genre. He has certainly drawn
influences from a range of artistic sources but he does share an ambivalent
attitude to ‘Modern Art’ that is not untypical of many traditional artists, declaring,
‘it has not clouded or plagued his development’.
As a forty-year old, Mon has a clear purpose invigorated by his
values and a strong belief in his ability. “What’s important is to produce quality work
that improves with every piece,” he says. “The artistic work I do is only serving the passion
inside for art and I believe that all artists before me would have felt. If you
were worried about what people thought of your art, you’d probably be one of
these modernists trying to stay on the cutting edge!”
Whilst he is confident in his approach
to art, there is a modesty in his demeanour that is surprising from an artist of
15-years’ experience with over 30 exhibitions. Indeed, Mon knows his subject
matter well and in respect to horses, takes a hands-on approach. His images of
mares and foals running free or heavy horses at work, lay testimony to his keen
powers of observation and the fact that he owns two stock
horses and Clydesdales, which he has broken to harness. He drives the long rein
and also does
some seasonal ploughing.
As
an equine sculptor or ‘animalier’, his skills are valued by collectors who often
want unique works. “Some are old retired horsemen or nostalgic collectors,
while others are young couples in their 20s who commission work of a family
member and favourite
horse,” he says. “The
balance between what I want to create and what a commission dictates has always
been a problem for the artist and I am no different! I am usually working on a piece of my own
while working on a commission.” Currently, he is short-listed to win a major Canberra
memorial to the ‘Australian Light Horse’ of the “Boer War”.
Lifestyle
The contrast in the way
people live nowadays - after the development of the motor vehicle, modern
technology and telecommunications - compared to the horse-drawn era, validates
the approach of an artist like Mon Garling:
“The horse in art, for me,
represents not only what was a bygone era but a truth about mankind. The
attachment to nature that mankind has seemingly lost, is best represented
through man’s close evolution with the horse. It wasn’t so long ago that in the
daily happenings of man the horse was involved, keeping us close to nature and
a slower simpler life. I think this is what appeals to people in this hurried
lifestyle we have today and what most lacks in their lives.”
His beliefs appear
firmly rooted in Australian soil, underpinned with a keen sense of history and are
complemented by a pragmatic approach to his art and life. No better exemplar of
this is his response to a query on his artistic contribution: “The legacy I
leave behind, will be, good kids and good adults!”
Brett ‘Mon’ Garling and family live on
some acreage with their horses in the small township of Wongarbon, near Dubbo, NSW.
He has restored a century-old shop as a gallery to display his paintings and
bronze sculptures. Visitors can also view his foundry where he usually has a
series of works in progress. There he is ably assisted by Ross Horder, who
notably, laboured on the 32 moulds and castings that were welded, burnished and
waxed, to create the recent Man From Snowy River statue.
(First published in Australian Horseman magazine Sep-Oct 2010).
(First published in Australian Horseman magazine Nov-Dec 2011).
(Cover photo by JV of painting "Leading him in" by Kate Ferguson).
