Giant Knucklebones, 2020Cast Concrete 1500 x 1000 x 500mm each (approximately 300kg each) Simon Lewis Wards’ work is synonymous with childhood nostalgia. Of growing up in Aotearoa in the second half of the 20th century, of sweets and games, $1 lolly bags, playing with the neighbourhood kids outside in the long summer evenings, spending all your hard-earned pocket money at the corner dairy and getting hyperactive with your mates. In the vein of Andy Warhol’s pop art with a kiwiana spin, Wards takes the everyday object - the sweet sugary manufactured processed lollies - and elevates them to the art object. Like Warhol, Wards uses repetition and multiples, both techniques more aligned with the mass production of consumables and household items made in factories than art. Swiss-American sculptor Claes Oldenburg also took manipulated food items, expanding them to an enormous size and elevating them to the level of fine art - a cherry balanced precariously on a spoon, or a piece of cake taking centre stage in the art gallery. The knucklebones game is one of the iconic children's activities in New Zealand. In America they are called jacks and the game has ancient origins known as astragaloi in Greek and tali in Latin. Wards’ Knucklebones are modelled on sheep knucklebones; apt for Brick Bay where the sheep graze across the farm. The Giant Knucklebones have been tossed down the hill as if in mid-game, landing on the slope where you can climb and relax on them while looking out over the lake. Simon Lewis Wards’ aesthetic is about having fun and bringing humour into the art world. Like Jeff Koons he deals with popular culture and his work depicts everyday objects which he transports to a new level. His small sculptures are made from glass and porcelain using techniques of casting and slip-casting and his most well known works are his porcelain bags filled with brightly coloured glass jet planes and heart shaped candies.
