Fountain, Museum of Contemporary Art Sculpture Terrace Commission, Sydney, 2012

Hany Armanious’ Fountain was the first work commissioned for the Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace in 2012. Weighing several tonnes, the work was installed by crane over 4.5 hours. The marble and resin components of the sculpture were placed in a purpose-built steel cradle that was craned onto the Sculpture Terrace from Argyle Street. The bronze part of the sculpture was installed using the MCA lifts.u200b

Fountain, 2012, was based on an anatomical model of the inner ear and a weathered outdoor table. Meticulously carved in Opal Bianca marble at ten times the model’s original size, the ear is a complex and mysterious form, containing transparent resin casts of the ear drum and cochlear.

Appearing ordinary in comparison, the table was cast in bronze and left to oxidise to suggest a green plastic surface that has been bleached and weakened by the sun. The table acted as a symbolic support for the apparently unbalanced ear and continued Hany Armanious’ playful investigation of the humble objects that keep art upright.

As its title suggests, the artist thinks of the work in terms of an archetypal fountain. Instead of running water, Fountain evokes the idea of water, through its references to the fluid of the ear canal, the undulating contours of the marble, and the translucent resin shapes that sit like droplets of liquid trapped inside the ear