Lola (Pink)

1999
Bronze
100 × 110 x 30 cm
Signed Burns

Collection
Canberra Museum and Gallery, acquired through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2012–2013.

Conservation

In 2025, Canberra Museum and Gallery undertook a review of the patinas on Lola (Black) and Lola (Pink) as part of the ongoing care of the sculptures in the museum’s collection.

Provenance

First exhibited as a painted wax and plaster wall sculpture in Towards the Baroque, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, 16 March to 10 April 1999.

Following the exhibition, the sculptures were cast in bronze in Sydney.

Exhibited at Floriade, Canberra, September 2000.

Installed at Orion Sculpture Park, Yass, New South Wales, 2007.

Acquired by Canberra Museum and Gallery through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2012–2013.

Description

The Lola series began with a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show in London in the early 1990s. Inspired by the extraordinary displays, I planted tulips in my London garden. After cutting the flowers and bringing them indoors, I became fascinated by the way they continued to transform over many days. They opened wider, twisted towards the light and gradually revealed distinct personalities. What had first appeared to be a simple flower became expressive, animated and almost human. Those observations became the starting point for a body of work that has continued for more than three decades.

The title Lola was inspired by the Kinks’ song of the same name. As I studied the tulip more closely, I became fascinated by the relationship between the central stamen and the surrounding petals. The flower suggested ideas of identity, female friendship and the coexistence of masculine and feminine characteristics within a single natural form. These ideas informed the series from the outset, although they remained largely unspoken when the sculptures were first exhibited.

Lola (Pink) was originally finished with a light pink patina. During its years on public display, the surface has matured naturally into rich bronze tones, reflecting the continuing process of transformation that first inspired the series. Like the tulips that continued to change long after they had been cut, the sculpture itself has evolved through time and exposure, becoming part of its own history.

Exhibition History

1999 — Towards the Baroque, Annandale Galleries, Sydney.

September 2000 — Floriade, Canberra.

2004 — Stephanie Burns Fine Art, Deakin ACT.

2007–2012 — Orion Sculpture Park, Yass, NSW.

2012–present — Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (permanent public display).

Collections

Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, Australia.

Acquired through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2012–2013.

Bibliography

Towards the Baroque. Exhibition catalogue. Annandale Galleries, Sydney, 1999.

Bruce James, “Toto, I’ve a Feeling We’re Not on Canvas Any More,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 April 1999.

Cassie Proudfoot, A Sculptor Succumbs to Tulip Mania, Canberra Times, September 2000.

With the Arts Relax, Canberra Times, 24 September 2000.

Helen Musa, article on the theft and recovery of Lola (White), Canberra Times, 2004.

© Stephanie Fuller (Burns)