Fabricated and fulsome, the sculptures of Lincoln Austin announce themselves proudly to the world. They are confident, industrious things; thought about, designed and assembled by the artist. Here we find intense industry. Each laser cut, drill hole and screw, is a necessary validation of Austin’s process and part of the final look of his sculptures. This is the nature of constructed sculpture. It is an additive process where space is not filled volumetrically but divided in a linear manner - teased out line by line. Mass, or at least its optical equivalent, is achieved by repetition of various components. Lines touch and cross, matter becomes weightless and incorporeal. These aspects are all present in this exhibition of Lincoln Austin’s sculpture. There are two strands to this exhibition; firstly the sculpture under glass domes, and secondly, the four stainless steel works. Each is complementary yet different in orientation. The bell jars enclose visual puzzles and are worlds unto themselves. It is the isolating of forms in a surreal manner which amplifies their strangeness. We look into these domes, curious to the fact that the objects held within resist easy identification. It is also obvious, despite titles such as The rhetorical triangle, Glazed over and Water will find its own level, that Austin’s bell jars are less about illusion than would first appear. They proceed from form to title and internal repetition and attention to components suggest they have been conceived in this way. Unlike painting which is tied to illusion, sculpture is made and exists in actual space and demands that we read it for its explicit, self referential qualities. Lincoln Austin has succeeded in these terms. His sculptures, and in particular the four stainless steel works of this exhibition, are what they are - obdurate, pragmatically industrial - yet wonderfully attractive. Successful sculpture, one thinks, is an object first Brett Ballard |