Galeria Aniela specializes in selling museum-quality ART if impeccable provenance

friendly Quality service

Robin Holliday bronzes can be described as organic and abstract especially Diad. The title of the abstract bronze sculpture Diad has a double meaning. It refers to the two parallel pointed forms, and also to the fact that the sculpture contains two contrasting components: the pointed forms and the rounded one encircling the hole.

Other Holliday's bronzes are stylized representations of animals, such as Fish, Bird and Manta-Ray and other have scientific symbolism Homage to Newton, Triad, Triple Interchange and DNA Double Helix.

The artist was able to bridge the gap between representational forms and abstract especially visible in: Lacunae, Dual Knife Edge, Crossing Over and Synapse.

COLLECTIONS:

The  Royal Society London

Institute Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge

Children Medical Research Institute Sydney

University of Sussex UK

Rockefeller University New York

Macquarie University Sydney and many others

AWARDS

1976   Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

1995   Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy

2005   Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization

2005   Elected to the Australian Academy of Science for fundamental contributions to molecular genetics, epigenetics & cell biology

2005   Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization

2011   Awarded the Royal Medal, the Royal Society’s premier award in excellence in science

BOOKS
Bibliography

Holliday was an authored and he edited numerous books including:

1981   The Science of Human Progress, Oxford University Press

1986   Genes, Proteins and Cellular Aging, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York

1995   Understanding Aging, Cambridge University Press

2000   Slaves and Saviours, Blackwall Books

2007   Why We Age, Springer Science + Business Media

making bronze sculptures

Making bronzes is highly-skilled and costly work as the process involves an expert fine art foundry using high-priced ingredients and a number of distinct casting procedures including the lost-wax casting (called investment casting) and also a team of extremely competent and experienced professionals are employed.

To start with, the artist made sculpture in plaster, he used non-drying oil-based clay such as Plasticine, built up wire armatures and a combination of adding and carving, he would create a full-sized model of the sculpture.

A wax (hollow for larger sculptures) is taken and a mould-model form created and cast in bronze at Alan Crawford's foundry in Sydney. Taking a Wax form from the mould form was the first step of the Lost-wax casting process in Bronze.

Then the full-size model of sculpture was cast at a fine art bronze foundry, using the ancient form of Lost-wax casting (also called investment casting, or precision casting).

The Lost-wax casting method produce museum-quality fine art bronze castings. Depending on the artist decision making, the outcome finish was different. By applying various chemicals the method produced sculptures with very different patinas (surface finishes).

After a bronze was made final polishing with corrosive materials was applied, to form a patina, a process that allows the artist to control the colour and finish.

  PHOTO: Robin Holliday in Galeria Aniela  

To make fine art bronze sculpture, the artist is using the ancient form of Lost-wax casting (also called investment casting or precision casting) method to produce it's museum quality fine art bronze castings.

The "Lost Wax Casting Method" is an incredibly accurate process for reproducing sculpture in metals such as bronze. The method developed thousands of years ago, and although modern techniques have improved the process, still remains very expensive and labour intensive as skilled craftspeople are needed every step of the way.

Once the wax pattern is approved, a "circulatory system" of wax tubes, often referred to as sprues, vents, and/or gates is attached to the wax pattern. This system will allow all the wax (in the soon to be made casting mould) to melt out of the casting mould, and for the metal to be poured in, and gas to escape. once gated, the wax pattern will be encased or what's called "invested" in either a traditional or solid investment molud or ceramic shell casting mould.
 

Both of these methods use refractory materials to encase the wax pattern and can withstand the temperature of the de-waxing process and the molten metal. The casting mould is placed in an oven or furnace and the wax is melted away leaving the negative impression in the casting mould. For the next step, bronze is melted to approximately 2000 degrees Fahrenheit (various alloys have slightly different melting points and ideal pouring temperatures), and when ready, the bronze is poured into the casting mould.

This is a particularly exciting and dramatic moment at the foundry. After the metal cools, the metal finishers will clean and chase the metal surface using a number of tools, from hand held chasing tools, to air powered grinders, and welding. Work is done until the cast meets the qualities of the original model.

At this point, if it is bronze cast, the artist will often want to further the color or patina from the natural metal color achieved during the metal finishing. The patina process is the application of chemicals to the surface of the bronze that changes the chemical composition of the metal so that it takes on a different or varied color.
 

This process is truly limited only by ones imagination and time. Many great patinas have been achieved simply by allowing the bronze to sit in nature and change with the air and moisture around it. In most cases at the foundry, we are required to make this process happen quickly and this is done by heating the metal and applying chemicals such as copper nitrate or ferric nitrate. It can also be done without heat: a cold patina. Either way, the patina process brings with it the many wonderful qualities that make bronze so luminous. Aluminium or other metal casts may be treated to achieve various results, highlighting the metal. Most casts are waxed for protection from the elements before they leave the foundry.