Here in Sydney, we know that the sunny season has arrived when great big sculptures start to appear along the coastline – from gravity-defying architectural marvels, to political statements and surreal-looking stuff that you’ve just gotta laugh at (who can forget that life-sized ice cream truck melting into the sand?). The largest free outdoor sculpture exhibition in the world, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi takes over the two-kilometre stretch of the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk every October.
This year, the 26th edition of the exhibition showcased 100 sculptures by artists from 16 countries. While Sculptures’ has packed it in for another year, a crowd favourite for 2024 emerged early on, capturing the imaginations of people young and old, and that is emerging artist Drew Macdonald’s brilliantly illogical ‘Sharnana’ – a two-metre long shark-banana hybrid made from recycled plastic, calcium carbonate, steel and acrylic paint.
What is the story behind Sydney’s banana shark?
In the words of the artist himself: “The illogical nature of ‘Sharnana’ – a shark emerging from a peeled banana – mirrors the chaotic nature of our existence. But ‘Sharnana’ isn’t about dread and despair; it’s about embracing the surreal humour of life’s contradictions and finding joy in the everyday.”
On Sunday, Sculpture by the Sea Incorporated announced that Drew McDonald is the recipient of this year’s Allens People’s Choice Award, as well as the Kids’ Choice Prize, as voted by the exhibition visitors. With both popular vote awards valued at $5000, that means that ‘Sharnana’ has earned its artist a total of a cool $10,000 in prize money. In addition to this, he also scores a trophy for each award, which each year are carefully crafted and gifted by long supporting sponsor, the Sydney-based resin-slinging legends of Dinosaur Designs.
“I’m thrilled and deeply grateful for the joy and engagement ‘Sharnana’ has inspired in adults and children, showing just how much we all love a bit of playful absurdity in our lives no matter how old we are,” said McDonald.
This year is the artist’s first time exhibiting at Sculpture by the Sea, or indeed, anywhere publicly. McDonald uses his inspiration from Dada, Surrealism and Pop Art Movements to create absurd amalgamations of everyday iconography and nautical creatures.
Do you find something vaguely familiar about ‘Sharnana’? That might be because there’s a theme emerging, with Sydneysiders making a bit of a habit out of getting obsessed with huge sculptures of great white sharks in silly outfits. Exhibit A: Progress Shark! When the Australian Museum called on local artist George Buchanan to help dress up a massive ten-metre-long outdoor shark sculpture in a rainbow cossie (the sculpture was promoting an award-winning exhibition about sharks) to celebrate Sydney WorldPride 2023, they accidentally invented a sensation. Progress Shark was quickly adopted as an icon of the LGBTQIA+ communities, with @progress.shark still active on Instagram today.
It seems that ‘Sharnana’ (or, Banana Shark?) has risen as the new supreme in Progress Shark’s wake. We could totally imagine a world where these two iconic apex predators meet up over brunch-time cocktails to spill the tea and unload about the pressures that come with their iconic statuses. Couldn’t you?... Look, the world is full of untold horrors – from the ruthless terror of decisions made by politicians both here and abroad, to the eye-watering cost of living, and everyday heartbreaks. But there’s something incredibly heartwarming and hopeful about the way the people of Sydney go silly for a big shark in a fun outfit. This is the power of art in action, people.
When speaking about ‘Sharnana’, Sculpture by the Sea’s Founding CEO and Artistic Director David Handley said: “Thank you to all of the artists and the hundreds of thousands of people who have visited this year’s exhibition. Congratulations to Drew for this wonderfully absurd sculpture that reminds us how wonderfully absurd it is to live on a rock floating in space watching the whales go by.”
Sculpture by the Sea’s other 2024 award winners
Professor Shen Lieyi’s sculpture, ‘Tracing’, was the exhibiting artists’ favourite, receiving the Sculpture by the Sea Exhibiting Artists Pick. Professor Lieyi was also the recipient of the $100,000 Aqualand Sculpture Award, which was announced at the launch of the exhibition on October 18.
This year, the Sculpture by the Sea Staff Pick went to Julian Pereira and David Da Costa Enes for ‘The Thinker’.
And, the Waverley Council Grounds Staff Pick was Gleb Dusavitskiy’s ‘Love Me Tender’.
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