Louise Paramor
PROJECT
Chess set is Melbourne-based artist Louise Paramor’s first participatory sculpture. Drawing on references ranging from pop culture to modernist abstraction and design, each 3D-printed figure functions simultaneously as a chess piece, sculpture and character. During the Triennial, visitors are invited to play chess, transforming an ancient game into a shared performance. Each game unfolds differently, making collaboration, observation and spontaneous interaction part of the work itself. By inviting visitors to take part rather than simply observe, Paramor foregrounds play as an artistic strategy to consider rules, bodies, colour and form.
The acquisition of this artist’s work is supported by the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists. This project is proudly supported by the University of Melbourne.
ABOUT
Renowned for her vibrant, large-scale anthropomorphic sculptures, Louise Paramor has regularly exhibited her work nationally and internationally since 1988. She has been awarded several grants and international residencies, including an Australia Council Fellowship at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (Germany) and an Australia Council Studio Residency at Greene Street Studio, New York (US). In 2010 she won the prestigious McClelland Sculpture Survey and Award with her piece Top shelf, and in 2017 she held a solo exhibition at NGVA, Palace of the Republic. Paramor is well known for her monumental public art commissions, and large-scale commissions include Panorama station, 2012, Peninsula Link Freeway, Melbourne, and, more recently, Transformer, 2021, at Moreland station, Melbourne, and Soul train, 2022, on the Great Victorian Rail Trail in Victoria’s High Country. Her work is held in a number of collections and her outdoor sculpture Noble Ape, 2013, is in the NGV Collection.