Born: Los Angeles, 1930.
Underwent active service in the U.S. Navy 1951-55 during the Korean War (Korean War veteran) and immediately thereafter.
Has held various teaching positions in the U.S.A. (1962-66), Ghana (1966-68) and Australia (1968-1986).1
Lives and works in Australia.
Grounds studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1965 and went on to do an M.A. in sculpture (1966). He exhibited in numerous group shows while in California. He came to Australia in 1968 and lived and worked in Sydney, lecturing at the Architecture Department, University of Sydney (1968-1986), and establishing the Sydney University Fine Arts Workshop (a.k.a. the Tin Sheds) with Donald Brook, of the Fine Arts Department, also at the University of Sydney. He received an M.Arch. From the University of Sydney in 1985.
He has been represented in a number of group shows in California since 1964, and Australia since 1968. From 1973 he exhibited in several of the Mildura Sculpture Triennials (1973, 1975, 1978), at Watters Gallery in Sydney (Objects, 1975) and the Ewing Gallery in Melbourne (Grids, 1975) and in the Biennale of Sydney (1976). He began producing video documentations of his sculptural installations and environmental art works in 1976. He then showed at the 7th Mildura Sculpture Triennial (1978) was included in the touring collection Videotapes from Australia (1979-81) and showed in the first Australian Perspecta 1981, plus later exhibitions.
He has travelled widely and has had residencies in Paris and Berlin. In 1977 he was Resident Artist at the Power Institute Studio, (Cite Internationale des Arts) Paris and at the Australia Council Studio, New York City. He made the film/video Austausch / Exchange with Egon Bunne (aka Llurex) while in Berlin in 1982
Grounds is primarily a sculptor whose work is particularly concerned with installation in the environment. In his installations he generally uses found natural and man-made objects to reflect and comment on our relationship with and impact upon the environment. He often works collaboratively with students and locals in the region where the installation is sited. Most of the works are documented, usually to film, which is then transferred to video for exhibition on video monitors when in the gallery. An unidentified curator at the MCA [possibly Sue Cramer] notes the “Influence of systems theory eco-systems [on his work, and that he] always went back to first principles, the environments. [He] worked intuitively & and then in retrospect saw [the] systems.”2
Many of Grounds' early video works were originally shot on film since, at the time they were made, film provided better quality and durability. Also as many of the works are site based and in the outback, film was easier to deal with. Usually the original film material was transferred to video for editing and so that the works could be seen in a gallery situation. Films screenings involve a large-scale cinema situation while video on a monitor works better in the gallery, providing a more intimate feel.
In recent years he has lived on a property near Tanja on the south coast of NSW, and continues to make sculptural objects from found materials.
For a note on Grounds recent work, see:
Nigel Lendon, “When art gives architecture a good name.”
http://artwranglers.com.au/when-art-gives-architecture-a-good-name-1/
CV3
The artist is represented in the collection of the Quay Gallery, San Francisco, U.S.A.; Horison's Gallery, Sausalito, U.S.A.; Flinders University. Adelaide; Mildura Arts Centre; Art Gallery of South Australia; Philip Morris Collection; National Gallery, Canberra; Ballarat Fine Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Compiled and partially written by Stephen Jones
Photographs courtesy the artist.
1CV is derived from several sources including the catalogue of the Seventh Sculpture Triennial, March 25 – May 28, 1978, Thomas McCullough; Australian Perspecta 1981, Bernice Murphy; and Griounds' CV (2010).
2From a set of handwritten notes in the artist's file at the MCA.
3Compiled from Seventh Sculpture Triennial, March 25 – May 28, (1978) catalogue; Perspecta 1981 catalogue and Grounds' recent CV.
Solo exhibitions by the artist include
1975 “Morphological Structures”, Watters Gallery Sydney,
1978 Watters Gallery, Sydney.
1980 Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane.
Ewing and George Paton Galleries, University of Melbourne.
"AVAGO”, Macdonald Street, Paddington (Sydney).
Selected group shows including the artist include:
1964
Benica Art Annual, California.
Berkeley Gallery Invitational, California.
Sacramento Art Annual, California.
1965
Berkeley Gallery Invitational, California.
10th Art Annual, Walnut Creek, California.
Horizon's Gallery, Sausalito, California.
Richmond Museum Annual, California.
1966
Richmond Museum Invitational, California.
Benica Annual (cash prize) California.
Walnut Creek Annual, California.
1973,
Sculpturscape 73, Mildura Sculpture Exhibition;
Soft Riots with A. Danko and R. Tipping, Watters Gallery, Sydney,
1975
Australia ‘75, Canberra;
Mildura Sculpture Triennial, exhibition;
Objects Show, Watters Gallery, Sydney;
The Grid Show - Structured Space, Ewing Gallery, Melbourne;
1976
Contemporary Outdoor Australian Sculpture, Adelaide Festival of Arts;
9th Annual Sculpture Conference, New Orleans, USA;
Madhatters’ Tea Party, Aldgate Crafts, Adelaide; Adelaide,
Alternate Technology Sculpture, University of Sydney;
Alberto ripped 4/Reconstituted, Martin Plaza, Sydney.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Invitation Exhibition, Hobart.
Biennale of Sydney: Recent International Forms in Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Second Art Bit Installation, 1976.
Stairwell, Sandbags, Sheepskin, Art Bit Kit: artist/visitor interaction.
Height 275cm x 550cm x 275cm.
see B for Art 1/4, 2/4 and 4/4
1977
Pinacotheca, Melbourne.
Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria.
Watters Gallery, Sydney.
1978
Mildura Sculpture Triennial, Mildura, Victoria.
The Work and Its Context: Six Attitudes in Australian Art (organised by the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California.
1979
The Work and Its Context: 1 (op. cit.), reconstituted exhibition organised by the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council, Australian Embassy, Paris.
1979/80
Videotapes from Australia, Australian Gallery Directors Council exhibition, shown at The Kitchen Center for Video and Music, New York (November 1979), then Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Video Inn, Vancouver.
Sculpture at the Top Ends (1978)
Super-8 film and ¾” video, colour, sound, 30 mins,
Artist/director: Marr Grounds in collaboration with Paul Pholeros
Department of Architecture, University of Sydney
1980
Project 30: Some Recent Australian Videotapes, A.G.D.C. exhibition organised for overseas tour (op. cit), shown at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, on return from North America (May 1980).
Videotapes dall'Australia / Videotapes from Australia, A.G.D.C. exhibition (op. cit.) with additions, presented by Anna Canepa and Historical Archives of the Biennale of Venice at opening of Architecture section of Biennale of Venice, July, 1980.
Exhibition later toured through Australian public galleries, various States, 1980/81.
Sculpture at the Top Ends (1978)
Super-8 film and ¾” video, colour, sound, 30 mins,
Artist/director: Marr Grounds in collaboration with Paul Pholeros
Gentleperson's Halt. (1979)
Colour videotape, ¾" U-matic cassette, stereo sound, 10 mins.
Courtesy Watters Gallery, Sydney.
1981
First Australian Sculpture Triennial, Preston Institute of Technology and La Trobe University, Melbourne.
Solar Lines, Melbourne/Toronto. 1981
Materials: lake, bullrushes, jetty, mirrors, bush shelter, perspex sheets, stone, carpet; overall dimensions 10 x 100 x 100 metres.
Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1981
Oxide Street. An Environmental Artwork on the Dingo Fence in Central Australia (1978/81)
installation with Blueprint (1978) and gold-leafed additions (1981),112 x 68.5 cm.
Gentleperson's Halt. 1979
Colour videotape, ¾" U-matic cassette, stereo sound, 10 mins.
Cairn Four. 1980
Installation: raw wool, bones, B/W photo-panel (Cairn Sites) 91.5 x 152.5 cm, VTR unit and 2 video monitors, chairs, earphones; overall dimensions 1 x 5 x 5 metres.
Videotapes shown on monitors: Dingo Fence (1978, colour, 20 mins.) and Cairn Two (1979, colour, 10 mins.).
Raw wool courtesy Australian Wool Corporation. Installation courtesy Watters Gallery, Sydney.
Solar Lines, Melbourne/Toronto. 1981
Documentation in B/W photographs of environmental artwork for First Australian Sculpture Triennial, La Trobe University, Melbourne, February-April, 1981.
1982
Oberhausen Film Festival, Oberhausen, West Germany.
Austausch / Exchange (1982)
Australian Art of the Last Ten Years: The Philip Morris Arts Grant, Melville Hall Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
1983
Continuum '83: The 1st Exhibition of Australian Contemporary Art in Japan, Tokyo, Japan.
Oxide Street, book, Marr Grounds with graphics by Paul Pholeros, Adelaide: Experimental Art Foundation, 1981.
Open Video Festival, Artspace, Sydney
ANZART, Hobart, Tas.
Bibliography:
Noel Hutchison, “Sculpturscape '73”, Art and Australia, Vol.11. No. 1. Winter 1973.
Sandra McGrath, "Art", The Australian, 8th February, 1975.
Daniel Thomas, "Art", The Sydney Morning Herald, 20th Feb., 1975.
Nancy Borlase, “Sydney Scene", Art and Australia, Vol.12, No.4, Autumn, 1975.
Elwyn Lynn, "Sydney Scene", Art International, Vol.XIX, no.6, 15th June, 1975.
Gary Catalano, “Watters at Pinacotheca”, Arts Melbourne & Art Almanac, Vol.2. No.1, Melbourne: Ewing and George Paton Galleries, August, 1977
Thomaso Trini, "Australia Next", Data Arte (Milan), 26, April-June, 1977.
Bruce Adams, "Review of.1976 Biennale of Sydney", Art and Australia, Vol.14, Nos.3&4, January and April, 1977.
Graeme Sturgeon, The Development of Australian Sculpture 1788-1975, Thames & Hudson, 1978.
Elwyn Lynn, "Sculpture at Mildura", Quadrant, Sydney, May, 1978.
John Davies, "Earth & Steel, Mildura's 7th Sculpture Triennial", Art and Australia, vol.16, no.1, September, 1978.
Akira Moriguchi, "Original Expression Out of Natural Environment" (in Japanese), Mizue, Tokyo, August, 1979.
Pierre Restany, "Australia: A Multiple Reality", Domus (Milan) 596, July 1979.
Stephen Jones & Bernice Murphy: Videotapes From Australia (exhibition catalogue), Sydney: Australian Gallery Directors Council, October, 1979.
Max Germaine: Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne: Landsdowne, 1979.
Anna Canepa: Videotapes dall' Australia/Videotapes from Australia, (Foreword by Wladimiro Dorigo and Anna Canepa; Introduction by Bernice Murphy); Biennale of Venice (Archivio Storico delle Arti Contemporanee), Venice, 1980.
Ken Scarlett: Australian Sculptors, Melbourne: Nelson, 1980.
Pierre Restany, “Advance Australia Fair”, D'Ars Magazine, No. 929, 1980.
Memory Holloway, “First Australian Sculpture Triennial”, The Australian, 16 March, 1981.
Janine Burke, “The First Australian Sculpture Triennial 1981”, Art Network, Issue 3 & 4, Sydney, Australia, 1981.
Bernice Murphy, Australian Perspecta 1981, Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1981.
Anita Aarons, “Sculptors in Exchange: Australia and Canada”, Australian Art Review, edited by Leon Pariossien, Sydney: Warner Associates, 1982.
Anne Dagbert, Art Press 74, Paris, France, October 1983.
D'un autre continent: “Australia. Le rêve et le reel”, ARC, Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1983
Bernice Murphy and Janet Parfenovics, Australian Perspecta 1983, Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1983.
David Broker, 'The Centre, Works on Paper'. Artlink, June, July 1984.
Robert L. Pincus, 'Nine Australians Offer Art that Fits the 'Gallery', Los Angeles Times, 19 July, 1984.
Robert L. Pincus, 'A Different Perspective from Australian Artists', Los Angeles Times, 24 July, 1984.
Tom McCullough, 'Austausch/Exchange' Art Almanac, Gallery Guide Melbourne. November 1984.
Janina Green, 'Arts', Melbourne Times, November 1984.
Sue Cramer, 'Art', The Age, Melbourne, 14 November, 1984.
Paul Taylor, 'A Culture of Temporary Culture', Art and Text, Summer 1984 - 85.
Noel Hutchison, “Lead Kindly Light Amid the Encircling Doom: Australia Sculpture Now”, Art Network, Spring 1985, p.38.
Bruce Adams, “Traversing The Difficult Territory of Aboriginal Art”, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 January, 1987.
Elwyn Lynn. 'A Space For Spiritual Worlds Of Their Own'. Weekend Australian, 17-18 January, 1987.
Gary Catalino, Intimate Australian Landscape & Recent Australian Art, Hale and Ironmonger, Sydney 1984-7.
