I couldn’t believe my luck when Callum Morton agreed to supervise my PhD. With an international artistic career spanning over 30 years, his artwork a part of over 15 collections around the world, and having exhibited as the Australian representative at the 52nd Australian biennale, Callum is a renowned Australian artist and a pioneer of the anti-monumental form. I was thrilled and eager to commence a multi-year supervision journey with someone of his artistic and professional calibre.
As a first-year fine art student over a decade ago, I had walked past Callum’s 2010 galvanised steel installation, Silverscreen, every day of studies at Monash University, and I’d driven past his remarkable 2008 installation, Hotel, countless times on the EastLink. Each time I’d marvelled at these works, I wondered how Callum’s distinguished career had all begun. The fog of uncertainty about how one makes a career as an artist in Australia was a mystery to me – a mystery that now propels my doctoral studies.
It wasn’t until very recently that I had the chance to learn about how Callum’s career has evolved. While he describes himself as ‘Mr Doom’, I walked away with a sense of his courage and determination to pursue a career as an artist.
Artist and professor at Monash Art, Design + Architecture Callum Morton speaks with PhD candidate Grace Slonim under Callum’s artwork ‘Silverscreen’ on Monash’s Caulfield campus. Photo – Amelia Stanwix.
The striking trumpet shaped entrance to 18 Innovation Walk on Monash’s Clayton campus is an artwork by Callum, MAP, Kosloff Architecture and Rush Wright Landscape Architects. Photo – Amelia Stanwix.
‘Making work is a constant challenge. I feel like I’m often starting again every work I make. It often feels fugitive and difficult to grasp and can be lost as quickly as it is found. Then sometimes it feels like the easiest thing in the world,’ says Callum. Photo – Amelia Stanwix.
The scale of the artwork marking the entry to the laboratory building on the Clayton campus is mighty. Photo – Amelia Stanwix.
Callum in one of the high tech fabrication labs on the Caulfield campus. Photo – Amelia Stanwix.
Grace and Callum chat beside a huge robotic arm in one of the on-campus high tech classrooms (just out of frame was a student’s artwork made with the machine that we weren’t able to capture, but was very impressive!). Photo – Amelia Stanwix.
Grace and Callum in deep discussion about the nature of artistry and art markets in Australia. See the full interview below! Photo – Amelia Stanwix.
