# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tim Storrier won the Archibald Prize, Australia's most prestigious art award, on Friday for his faceless self-portrait, "The Histrionic Wayfarer (After Bosch)."

He beat 40 other finalists, including Martin Sharp, Garry Shead and last year's winner Ben Quilty, to take the 75,000 Australian dollar (US$77,972) prize for portraiture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Mr. Storrier's "Histrionic Wayfarer" is inspired by a 1519 Hieronymus Bosch painting called "The Wayfarer," which is often interpreted as depicting a choice between vice and virtue.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Histrionic Wayfarer' Wins Archibald Prize

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tim Storrier won the Archibald Prize, Australia's most prestigious art award, on Friday for his faceless self-portrait, "The Histrionic Wayfarer (After Bosch)." He beat 40 other finalists, including Martin Sharp, Garry Shead and last year's winner Ben Quilty, to take the 75,000 Australian dollar (US$77,972) prize for portraiture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Banished for decades, the figure finally emerged in the art of Tim Storrier (born 1949) in an exhibition titled In Absentia, held at Australian Galleries, Sydney, in 2010. The figures were spectral entities given form by the clothes they inhabited and the accessories they sported. The sex, character and history of these figures was instilled into a series of intriguing paintings that became the foundation for Storrier's future venture into large scale sculptural works. The artist's forensic attention to form and space in a 2D format would open up opportunities to amplify his vision in a sculptural realm.

The catalyst for Storrier's recent enterprise was his Archibald Prize-winning painting, The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch) 2012. In a statement at the time, Storrier outlined the significance of the work: 'It refers to a painting by Hieronymus Bosch called The Wayfarer painted in c1510 where the figure is believed to be choosing a path or possibly the prodigal son returning,' says Storrier. 'It also has other references, I believe, but they are rather clouded in biblical history and time.'

Storrier's bronze sculpture is, in fact, an accumulation of a lifetime of experience and associations. The most consistent element in Storrier's evolution as an artist is his adherence to the value and integrity of memory. Growing up at 'Umagarlee', a 7000 acre property north-west of Wellington in the central-west of New South Wales would stir the nascent artist's imagination. The bush in all its manifestations was his playground. The perforated iron sheds replete with kerosene lamps, bottles, old golf clubs, tools, leather harness, tin mugs and plates, canvas tarpaulins, chains, and rusting sections of fencing wire made up a visual language to be summoned later in the solitude of the studio. From the sheds, he would head off down dusty tracks and across dry creek beds to explore his domain. Military capers were a favourite pastime-maneuvering toy soldiers, overseeing battles, pitching tents and hoisting flags. Later in life, Storrier would come to grips with the horror and pathos of war. He recently noted that The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch) could be viewed as an oblique parody on a war memorial.

As a child, Storrier's heroes were men on the land and pioneering figures. With pride in his pastoral heritage, he grew to have a deep respect for the values of his fellow countrymen. The pastoral lands that his family occupied had been explored, mapped, and settled as a consequence of colonial enterprise. Aware of this heritage, Storrier identified with the image of the surveyor/explorer. Embodied in the character of the surveyor, he envisaged a somewhat heroic figure set apart, the artist/poet, the romantic 'dream-smith', a metaphysical map-maker.

In the artist's solitary quest, dogs have been constant companions. Growing up on the land, Storrier became aware that these animals were not just pets, but were indispensable to the working life of the property. One of his duties was to make sure that the dogs were properly fed, watered, and sheltered. A lasting fondness grew from his involvement in the lives of the dogs. Over time, he empathized with a dog's indefatigable need for activity and companionship. In the life of the artist, dogs are there mostly as mute companions: Perched on the back of a ute or dozing by the studio door, they rank highly in Storrier's estimation. As for subject matter, they are ideal 'sitters', completely indifferent to the outcome. The attention to the character of Smudge in the sculpture reveals the alert nature of the creature along with the artist's genuine affection for his subject.

An early precursor to The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch), was the Saddle Series of 1980-83, where the artist refined his evolving iconography heightening visual intrigue with trompe l'oeil effects. A fine example is Saddle for Primary Surveyor II 1983, with its varied accoutrements carefully laid out against a grid, symbolic of the map-maker's profession. Scientific mapping of the Antipodes was closely tied to the annexation of 'vacant' lands and the expulsion of indigenous people. It was a case of the victors claiming the spoils. The surveyor fixed wilderness to the colonial map, and adjusted its timelessness to the industrial clock. In a sense, Storrier invites the viewer to experience his constructed spaces as pure invention-as personal time-zones. Yet, these imaginary spaces are as carefully laid out and measured as any topographic survey. The force of Storrier's emotional engagement in the series is tempered by an innate aesthetic discipline that carries the day.

In The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch), the motif is deliberately mannered, emphasizing the 'histrionic' character of the Wayfarer. The metaphor suggests the cumbersome nature of an existence constantly hindered by the accumulation of possessions that can reduce the human enterprise to a farce: clarity of purpose is constantly diverted. As Storrier pointed out: 'A carapace of burden is depicted in The Histrionic Wayfarer, clothed in the tools to sustain the intrigue of a metaphysical survey. Provisions, art materials, books, papers, bedding, compass and maps, all for the journey through the landscape of the artist's mind accompanied by Smudge, the critic and guide of the whole enterprise.' Navigating one's way through the cultural detritus of our times requires an astute pilot. Storrier has enlisted Smudge, his canine companion and critic for the task. Perched precariously atop the artist's paraphernalia, Smudge suggests an unfettered existence bound by a loyalty, indifferent to the eccentric meanderings of his master. The carefree needs of a dog are at odds with the Wayfarer's metaphysical quest.

To achieve the exacting nature of Storrier's vision in a large-scale sculpture, the artist underwent a lengthy process of investigation and collaboration. In early 2013, he decided that he wanted to transfer the image of The Wayfarer into a 3D bronze. After making a maquette of the idea, it became clear to the artist that he didn't have the equipment or the technical knowledge concerning bronze casting to proceed without expert help.

In Australia, Storrier felt there were a limited number of artisans he could confidently collaborate with, so decided to go to Beijing, where he met the master artisan, Liao. After viewing a reproduction of the Wayfarer painting, it was immediately clear that Liao understood what Storrier was attempting to achieve. Liao then worked closely with the artist to resolve the lack of detailed imagery at the back of the Wayfarer painting. Storrier made numerous drawings that enabled Liao to create the desired result in a 3D image. As is traditional in this form of sculpture, Storrier began with a maquette approximately 80 centimetres high. The purpose was to refine the posture and detailed image of the object before proceeding to the larger sculpture. While the maquette progressed, artisan and artist exchanged information via the internet. As Storrier explained: 'Liao photographed the progress of the clay and I would send back suggestions and drawings as to how I wanted him to proceed. At crucial points I flew to Beijing to inspect the progress.' Editions 4/5 and 5/5 each weighing 600kg were cast at Crawford's Casting, Chippendale, Sydney.

Gavin Wilson

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Banished for decades, the figure finally emerged in the art of Tim Storrier (born 1949) in an exhibition titled In Absentia, held at Australian Galleries, Sydney, in 2010. The figures were spectral entities given form by the clothes they inhabited and the accessories they sported.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The term form can mean several different things in art. Form is one of the seven elements of art and connotes a three-dimensional object in space. A formal analysis of a work of art describes how the elements and principles of artwork together independent of their meaning and the feelings or thoughts they may evoke in the viewer. Finally, form is also used to describe the physical nature of the artwork, as in a metal sculpture, an oil painting, etc.​

When used in tandem with the word art as in art form, it can also mean a medium of artistic expression recognized as fine art or an unconventional medium done so well, adroitly, or creatively as to elevate it to the level of a fine art.

An Element of Art

Form is one of the seven elements of art which are the visual tools that an artist uses to compose a work of art. In addition to form, they include line, shape, value, color, texture, and space. As an Element of Art, form connotes something that is three-dimensional and encloses volume, having length, width, and height, versus shape, which is two-dimensional, or flat. A form is a shape in three dimensions, and, like shapes, can be geometric or organic.

Geometric forms are forms that are mathematical, precise, and can be named, as in the basic geometric forms: sphere, cube, pyramid, cone, and cylinder. A circle becomes a sphere in three dimensions, a square becomes a cube, a triangle becomes a pyramid or cone.

Geometric forms are most often found in architecture and the built environment, although you can also find them in the spheres of planets and bubbles, and in the crystalline pattern of snowflakes, for example.

Organic forms are those that are free-flowing, curvy, sinewy, and are not symmetrical or easily measurable or named.

They most often occur in nature, as in the shapes of flowers, branches, leaves, puddles, clouds, animals, the human figure, etc., but can also be found in the bold and fanciful buildings of the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) as well as in many sculptures.

Form in Sculpture

Form is most closely tied to sculpture, since it is a three-dimensional art and has traditionally consisted almost primarily of form, with color and texture being subordinate. Three-dimensional forms can be seen from more than one side. Traditionally forms could be viewed from all sides, called sculpture in-the-round, or in relief, those in which the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background -- including bas-relief, haut-relief, and sunken-relief. Historically sculptures were made in the likeness of someone, to honor a hero or god.

The twentieth century broadened the meaning of sculpture, though, heralding the concept of open and closed forms, and the meaning continues to expand today. Sculptures are no longer only representational, static, stationary, forms with a solid opaque mass that has been carved out of stone or modeled out of bronze. Sculpture today may be abstract, assembled from different objects, kinetic, change with time, or made out of unconventional materials like light or holograms, as in the work of renowned artist James Turrell.

Sculptures may be characterized in relative terms as closed or open forms. A closed form has a similar feeling to the traditional form of a solid opaque mass. Even if spaces exist within the form, they are contained and confined. A closed form has an inward-directed focus on the form, itself, isolated from ambient space. An open form is transparent, revealing its structure, and therefore has a more fluid and dynamic relationship with the ambient space. Negative space is a major component and activating force of an open form sculpture. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Alexander Calder (1898-1976), and Julio Gonzalez (1876-1942) are some artists who created open form sculptures, made from wire and other materials.

Henry Moore (1898-1986), the great English artist who, along with his contemporary, Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), were the two most important British sculptors in modern art, both revolutionized sculpture by being the first to pierce the form of their biomorphic (bio=life, morphic=form) sculptures.

She did so in 1931, and he did in 1932, noting that "even space can have form" and that "a hole can have as much shape meaning as a solid mass."

Form in Drawing and Painting

In drawing and painting, the illusion of three-dimensional form is conveyed through the use of lighting and shadows, and the rendering of value and tone. Shape is defined by the outer contour of an object, which is how we first perceive it and begin to make sense of it, but light, value, and shadow help to give an object form and context in space so that we can fully identify it.

For example, assuming a single light source on a sphere, the highlight is where the light source hits directly; the midtone is the middle value on the sphere where the light does not hit directly; the core shadow is the area on the sphere that the light does not hit at all and is the darkest part of the sphere; the cast shadow is the area on surrounding surfaces that is blocked from the light by the object; reflected highlight is light that is reflected back up onto the object from the surrounding objects and surfaces. With these guidelines as to light and shading in mind, any simple shape can be drawn or painted to create the illusion of a three-dimensional form.

The greater the contrast in value, the more pronounced the three-dimensional form becomes. Forms that are rendered with little variation in value appear flatter than those that are rendered with greater variation and contrast.

Historically, painting has progressed from a flat representation of form and space to a three-dimensional representation of form and space, to abstraction.

Egyptian painting was flat, with the human form presented frontally but with the head and feet in profile. The realistic illusion of form did not occur until the Renaissance along with the discovery of perspective. Baroque artists such as Caravaggio (1571-1610), explored the nature of space, light, and the three-dimensional experience of space further through the use of chiaroscuro, the strong contrast of light and dark. The portrayal of the human form became much more dynamic, with chiaroscuro and foreshortening giving the forms a sense of solidity and weight and creating a powerful sense of drama. Modernism freed artists to play with form more abstractly. Artists such as Picasso, with the invention of Cubism, broke up form to imply movement through space and time.

Analyzing an Artwork

When analyzing a work of art, a formal analysis is separate from that of its content or context. A formal analysis means applying the elements and principles of art to analyze the work visually. The formal analysis can reveal compositional decisions that help to reinforce content -- the work's essence, meaning, and the artist's intent -- as well as give clues as to historical context.

For example, the feelings of mystery, awe, and transcendence that are evoked from some of the most enduring Renaissance masterpieces, such as the Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci, 1517), The Creation of Adam (Michelangelo, 1512), the Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci, 1498) are distinct from the formal compositional elements and principles such as line, color, space, shape, contrast, emphasis, etc., the artist used to create the painting and that contribute to its meaning, effect, and timeless quality.

Resources and Further Reading

The Art of Sculpture, Encyclopedia of Art, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/sculpture.htm

Henry Moore Foundation, https://www.henry-moore.org

Resources for Teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Does the Term 'Form' Mean in Regards to Art?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The term form can mean several different things in art. Form is one of the seven elements of art and connotes a three-dimensional object in space. A formal analysis of a work of art describes how the elements and principles of artwork together independent of their meaning and the feelings or thoughts they may evoke in the viewer.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tim Storrier won the Archibald Prize, Australia's most prestigious art award, on Friday for his faceless self-portrait, "The Histrionic Wayfarer (After Bosch)."

He beat 40 other finalists, including Martin Sharp, Garry Shead and last year's winner Ben Quilty, to take the 75,000 Australian dollar (US$77,972) prize for portraiture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Mr. Storrier's "Histrionic Wayfarer" is inspired by a 1519 Hieronymus Bosch painting called "The Wayfarer," which is often interpreted as depicting a choice between vice and virtue.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Histrionic Wayfarer' Wins Archibald Prize

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tim Storrier won the Archibald Prize, Australia's most prestigious art award, on Friday for his faceless self-portrait, "The Histrionic Wayfarer (After Bosch)." He beat 40 other finalists, including Martin Sharp, Garry Shead and last year's winner Ben Quilty, to take the 75,000 Australian dollar (US$77,972) prize for portraiture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A SELF-portrait which controversially does not appear to depict his face or body has won landscape artist Tim Storrier this year's $75,000 Archibald Prize.

His winning work, The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch) , features an empty suit of explorer's clothes, shown carrying the artist's tools of his trade across a barren landscape.

Storrier said his identity was made clear by the clothes and equipment carried in the painting, which does also include a small drawing of himself, scribbled on a piece of paper being blown away by the wind.

The title refers to a 1510 painting by Hieronymus Bosch called The Wayfarer in which a figure - often interpreted as the prodigal son returning - is shown choosing a path.

Storrier said his portrait depicted the burden of the artist's journey, "clothed in the tools to sustain the intrigue of a metaphysical survey". Born in Sydney in 1949, Storrier studied at its National Art School and now lives and works in Bathurst.

He is renowned for mysterious landscape paintings which capture the melancholy vastness of the Australian Outback, usually punctuated by flaming ruins or remains.

In 1994, he was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for services to art.

This year's prizewinners were dominated by NSW artists.

Imants Tillers won the $35,000 Wynne Prize for landscape painting with Waterfall (after Williams), inspired by the late Fred Williams' work, Free copy of Eugene von Guerard's Waterfall, Strath Creek, 1862.

The $30,000 Sulman Prize was won by Nigel Milsom for Judo House pt 4 (Golden mud).

Susan J. White won the $2000 Watercolour Prize, part of the Wynne competition, for Salamander Bay, showing the Port Stephens area where she spent time while she was growing up.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A SELF-portrait which controversially does not appear to depict his face or body has won landscape artist Tim Storrier this year's $75,000 Archibald Prize. His winning work, The Histrionic Wayfarer (after Bosch) , features an empty suit of explorer's clothes, shown carrying the artist's tools of his trade across a barren landscape.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Category: essays research papers; Title: Tim Storrier

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Archibald Prize Archibald 2012 finalist: The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch) by Tim Storrier

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tim Storrier was represented in last year's Archibald Prize with another self-portrait without a face. Entitled Moon boy (self-portrait as a young man), the figure was represented by a suit of empty clothes hanging as if on a scarecrow in a barren landscape.