Artist: Michael Bullock Work: Untitled (2013-14) Location: Bangalore, India
Michael Bullock travelled to Bangalore, India to undertake a residency at 1.Shanthiroad as a part of theSpaced and Asialink reciprocal exchange program. This program saw one Australian artist travel to India and one Indian artist (Archana Hande) travel to Western Australia to undertake art residencies.
At 1.Shanthiroad, Bangalore, Bullock continued his current artistic research into the material and trade of sandalwood, a now-precious commodity that has traditionally been highly valued in India for its ritual and religious uses. Bangalore and the nearby culturally significant city of Mysore are the centres for sandalwood production in India. As a result of his research, Bullock identified a ‘vocabulary’ of inter-related materials, linking sandalwood to soap, incense, rope, and carbon paper. He is especially interested in the transient character of these materials, to which his works give permanency through traditional sculptural techniques and processes, such as bronze-casting and wood-carving.