Ivo Tadic

Bosnian born and Mount Gambier based Ivo Tadic is an artist who likes to explore the big picture. His eye-catching limestone sculptures range from abstract to figurative and have strong conceptual elements.

This body of work is inspired by the discovery of the various plant and coral forms that get washed up on the beaches around Adelaide. Their story resonates with the title of this group exhibition – ‘Stomping Ground’.

These little corals that get washed up on the beach grow on the branches of the plants that have no root system other than the holdfasts that keep them anchored. They are like adornments, like jewels on the plants which host them. They both get washed up on the beach and mainly go un-noticed and literally get stomped underfoot.

I like their story; I like the fact that they come from a different reality. A watery, fluid floating reality in which gravity seems to have lost its hold and yet to be exaggerated at the same time; water, both their home and the source of their sustenance.

These jewels of the sea are scaled up, are given a new identity and new exposure and in my mind deserved new recognition.