I’ll Stay and Love Obey
I’ll Stay and Love Obey
1994
Bronze, edition of 6
Cast by Ken Cook
Signed McDonald
43 × 48 × 44 cm
I’ll Stay and Love Obey is one of Stephanie McDonald’s coloured bronze still lifes of the mid 1990s. Three elongated gourds rise from a large turquoise footed bowl, accompanied by a lemon and a dark dish containing a group of olives.
The sculpture transforms the familiar objects of still life into an emphatically physical arrangement. Each element was modelled separately, allowing changes in scale, surface and colour to become part of the composition. The rounded mass of the bowl anchors the work, while the narrow stems of the gourds rise above it and give the sculpture an unexpectedly animated, almost gestural quality.
Colour is integral to the work. The intense turquoise patination of the bowl contrasts with the warm ochres and browns of the gourds, while the yellow and white lemon and cool grey-blue olives punctuate the composition with smaller areas of colour. Cast by Ken Cook, the sculpture belongs to the period in which richly varied coloured patinas became one of the distinguishing characteristics of McDonald’s bronzes.
Although rooted in the European tradition of still life, the work is not a literal transcription of a painted composition. Familiar domestic and organic objects have been enlarged, isolated and recombined so that they acquire an independent sculptural presence. The objects remain recognisable, but their changed scale, weight and permanence in bronze shift them away from the everyday.
Exhibition history
1994
Stephanie McDonald, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, Australia.
The work is visible in surviving installation photographs from the exhibition.
1995
Stephanie McDonald, Delaney Galleries, Perth, Western Australia.
The work is clearly visible in surviving archival installation photography, displayed on an individual plinth.
Provenance
Edition VI
Sold through Delaney Galleries, Perth.
Acquired by National Australia Bank.
Edition record
Bronze edition of 6.
I — recorded
II — recorded
III — recorded
IV — recorded
V — recorded
VI — sold through Delaney Galleries; acquired by National Australia Bank