Beseech Sculpture (Leederville, Perth WA)

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Town of Vincent's Administrative and Civic Centre
Grounds 
Corner between Loftus & Vicent Sts
Leederville, WA 6007

"Beseech" aka Big Blue Head, is a 3-metre high blue concrete sculpture by Western Australian artist Ken Sealy. The Town of Vincent commissioned Sealy after being selected among the six entries presented. The project was founded using the Town of Vincent’s mandatory Percent for Art Scheme, which is a very cool mandatory concept.

The sculpture was initially planed for a commercial development to be built at 375 Charles Street (North Perth). However, the developers showed concerns about the effect of such a big sculpture on the value of the area, and about the visual impact that it might have. The Town of Vincent was forced to look for a more convenient location for the already in production Beseech. After much deliberation, Beseech found a home on the grounds of the Town of Vincent's Administrative and Civic building. I am convinced that this was a blessing in disguise, because Beseech, being surrounded by trees and in a relatively quiet green area, away from any commercial building, has got a life of its own.  

Beseech's  style is similar to the in-vogue marquetry puzzles, created by putting together flat slices of wood to create a 3D volume. Sealy did a very similar thing, but on a giant scale. He used slices of foam, impregnated them with concrete, linked them by metallic poles, and, once they two halves of the head were dry, they were assembled, and erected on its current location, painted with Epoxy, and was inaugurated on 20 March 2013.

Beseech is a beautifully expressive and New Age creature - a true gentle giant. The delicate but pronounced tilt of the head and the fact that the eyes look open or closed depending on the angle you look at "him", give Beseech a very peaceful and egregious air. It makes you wonder. What is he seeking? Why is he looking at? What has caused him to be so very peacefully enraptured? Is he meditating? Is he praying? Is he looking at the moon? Is he looking at the stars? Is he looking inward? Beseech has a metaphysical aura that makes you stop and look up to see what he is looking up. When you look up, you see the sunlight and moonlight shining  through the leaves of the trees, the tops of the trees framing the sky, and a space that is  beyond what we see, both outward and inward.

Of course, the sculpture is facing the building of the Town of Vincent, but I am sure that Beseech is not interested  in mundane affairs at all. 

I do not like concrete and fashion colours in sculpture because it makes the sculpture fashionable and perishable, degradable, and consumable as well. Of course, this is a very personal opinion. This is an awesome expressive sculpture that would have benefited from those materials that are Sealy's trademark: Aluminium and wood. I suppose, the small budget (which was, nevertheless, 50 grand) did not allow Sealy to create something of that sort. Nothing lasts an eternity, but it would have been great if the Town of Vincent had added a bit of more money from its own pockets, to guarantee a longer cooler life to Beseech.

I love this sculpture, despite its blue concrete, for its concretist blues. 

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