Stretching 21 metres long and up to five metres high, Glenelg’s new public artwork was today completed on Jetty Road.
Elysian Fields is an avenue of 18 of giant flowers, with a further five dotted in the area, created by Melbourne-based artist Nick Athanasiou.
Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson says she hopes the piece will become as iconic as the Mall’s Balls or Beehive Corner.
“The beauty of Elysian Fields is that people’s experience of it will change depending on the time of day and time of year they see it, as it comes to life as the sun shines its rays through the panels,” Amanda says.
“It’s truly a magical experience.”
The large-scale piece stands at the corner of Jetty Road and Brighton Road, with more flowers on the Brighton Road corner, and a further three on the opposite side of the road.
The petals look as though they’re made of stained glass, although they’re actually layers of stainless steel, inlaid with filters displaying different colours when viewed from different angles.
Elysian Fields’ creator is artist Nick Athanasiou, also a scientist with a PhD in chemistry, teacher and founder and creative director of contemporary art company Skunk Control, based in Melbourne.
Nick has drawn on formative years filled with adventure and discovery for the piece.
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“We want to create works that rekindle some of that wonder of those delightful years and provide new adventures and memories for communities,” Nick says.
“Nowadays, people don’t tend to spend much time with nature to get those feelings of awe.”
The piece was designed at the Brighton Road end of Jetty Road to encourage visitors to stop and enjoy the work, before heading to the beach along Jetty Road.
“I like the idea of people stepping in, stopping and trying to figure out how it’s all working … and then taking a step forward but stopping again to pause. I like the idea of that pause,” Nick says.
Nick’s intention is to prompt questions about how colour and light interact and connect.
“And what nature does is create colour from the physical process of white light passing through microstructures that are arranged in ways that allow only one or two waves of light to reflect.”
“In nature, we see this with butterfly wings.
“The materials that we use mimic what happens in nature. Some of the filters we use are made up of hundreds of layers, so as light enters these filters, only certain waves (certain colours) are reflected, while others are transmitted.
“Modifying these layers (structure) allows us to modify colour. It’s nowhere near as sophisticated as how nature has created colour for millennia, but it goes some way in creating vibrant and vivid colours.”
This isn’t the first work Nick has created for Jetty Road – his piece, Light Tapestry was installed in Bouchee Walk, just off the main street.
