Trefor Prest (26 June 1945,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, UK) is a Welsh-born Australian sculptor living in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

since 1961. He produces highly-finished intricate and puzzling, often humorous, quasi-mechanical or machine-age constructions that are the subject of solo shows in major public and commercial galleries and feature in national and international group exhibitions, including the Mildura Sculpture Triennials.

Biography

Trefor Geraint Prest was born on 26 June 1945 in Cardiff to John and Olive Prest (nee Hamlin), a teacher, and spent his childhood in Barrow a major

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

coal port , and was the sole sibling of younger sister Lynda. Memory of the town's extensive industrial landscapes and its machinery were to become an inspiration for Prest's sculpture. He studied at the Croydon College of Art in 1960, but was expelled from the course before migrating with his family to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 2 May 1961 when he was sixteen on the '' S.S. Fairsky'' from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

under the

Assisted Passage Migration Scheme Ten Pound Poms (or Ten Pound tourists) is a colloquial term used in Australia and New Zealand to describe British citizens who migrated to Australia and New Zealand after the Second World War. The Government of Australia initiated the Assisted ...

. He was conscripted into the Australian army, and while a student living in Lytton Street, Glenroy and completing a Diploma of Art (sculpture) at the

National Gallery of Victoria Art School The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, associated with the National Gallery of Victoria, was a private fine arts college founded in 1867 and was Australia's leading art school of 50 years. It is also referred to as the 'National Gallery ...

, he and Stephen Benwell were charged and fined $50 for pasting posters advertising the 1971

Vietnam Moratorium The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a massive demonstration and teach-in across the United States against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. It took place on October 15, 1969, followed a month later, on November 15, 1969 ...

march on walls and front windows of the new Gallery building. Three female accomplices were not fined and

Lenton Parr Thomas Lenton Parr AM (11 September 1924 – 8 August 2003) was an Australian sculptor and teacher . Sculptor Born in East Coburg, Victoria, Lenton Parr spent eight years in the Royal Australian Air Force (Svc No. A33223) before enrolling to st ...

, principal of the National Gallery Art School, was reported as saying; "there was no damage to the building, so the trustees were prepared to overlook the matter," and "the trustees believe it a pity the matter had not been referred to me originally." Prest completed his diploma in 1973; a single arts subject, Modern European History, at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

, Melbourne; and welding and structural drawing, at the

RMIT RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

during 1972-74; and undertook graduate studies at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School during 1974-75. He started exhibiting in 1971. While studying, Prest visited the

Cape Schanck Cape Schanck is a locality at the southernmost tip of the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local governme ...

area to enjoy diving and solitude, and in the early 1970s purchased a building block there for $500 on which he practised his welding in constructing a small underground building with second-hand materials that he brought from Melbourne on his motor-bike. After the 1980s it fell into disrepair and he sold the block. During 1974 Prest travelled and studied in the UK and Europe and again in 1976, visiting the UK, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. In 1982 Prest, his wife Belinda, an artist and dance and yoga teacher whom he met at the Gallery School, and their family of three, moved from a hilly rural block Kalorama in the

Dandenongs The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathere ...

to Sandon in Central Victoria. He was employed at Barkla Engineering in Newstead making truck trays, and has for 30 years been an active volunteer in the

Country Fire Authority The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is a volunteer fire service responsible for fire suppression, rescues, and response to other accidents and hazards across most of the state Victoria, Australia. CFA comprises over 1,200 brigades organised in 21 ...

Newstead brigade. After six months in Sandon he moved to renovate and expand an 1890 miner's cottage on 12Ha in Strangways and to concentrate on his sculpture and family. Prest lectured in Sculpture at the University of Ballarat from 1995-1996.

Style and reception

Prest's work, produced using engineering techniques including

forging Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which i ...

turning Turning is a machining process in which a cutting tool, typically a non-rotary tool bit, describes a helix toolpath by moving more or less linearly while the workpiece rotates. Usually the term "turning" is reserved for the generation of ...

riveting A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched o ...

, pressing and

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Welding is distinct from lower ...

with some

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...

and

sewing Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabr ...

, and made from scrap iron, brass and copper with some wooden and canvas elements, is mechanical in appearance and structure, though it is based on the human form. His early experiences of the Welsh docks provided inspiration for the machine-like, and sometimes operable, structures he makes. Critic

Sasha Grishin Alexander "Sasha" Dmitrievich Grishin is an Australian art historian, art critic and curator based in Victoria and Canberra. He is known as an art critic, and for establishing the academic discipline of art history at the Australian National Uni ...

responds to the humour in Prest works like ''Dogger Bank''. His work has been described as "mechanically perfect but functionally absurd machines," while

Robert Rooney Robert Rooney (1937–2017) was an artist and art critic from Melbourne, Australia, and a leading figure in Australian Conceptual art. Biography Born in Melbourne on 24 September 1937, Rooney lived in Northcote until December 1939 when he mov ...

asserts that;

Nothing could be more eccentric than the "scultpures" of Trefor Prest. These structures which look like ancient dental equipment or some other type of torture machine seem to have no reason except to satisfy the sculptor's desire to construct a well-engineered, but useless, contraption.

In 1978, critic John Davies, in reviewing the Seventh

Mildura Sculpture Triennial The Mildura Sculpture Triennials took place between 1961 and 1988. Inaugurated in 1961 as the Mildara Prize for Sculpture sponsored by the Mildara Winery, the next event was renamed the Mildura Sculpture Triennial. It was the first event in Austr ...

judged "Trefor Prest's Surreal, machine-like ''Tales from the valley below'', exhibited in the Bakery…one of the finest pieces in the Triennial." In reviewing Prest's 1990 solo show at Pinacotheca gallery in ''The Age'' Peter Hill wrote that;

Parts of each work in turn remind the spectator of submarines, sextants, trawlers, farm machinery, pendulums, and 19th Century scientific instruments. They all look purposeful but are in fact functionless, and for that reason fit well with Lothar Romain's views of deconstruction. Romain was one of the selectors of the last ''Documenta'' and, as an antipost-modernist, described deconstruction as "a means of setting up a model with the help of construction elements such as ordinary everyday objects. In this model these construction elements are experienced to have no significance at all and have lost their original meaning." By extension, the use of everyday objects can embrace everyday manufacturing processes, fashioning a new artistic revolution from an old industrial revolution. Trefor Prest is one of the best artists in the world at this, along with a few others such as
Donald Lipski Donald Lipski (born May 21, 1947) is an American sculptor best known for his installation work and large-scale public works. Early life and education Donald Lipski was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1947. He was raised in the northern suburb of ...
. Both fashion very different art objects through very similar attitudes to three dimensional construction.

His design for an elaborate

ceremonial mace A ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high officials in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the or ...

was commissioned by

Federation University Federation University Australia (Fed Uni) is a public, multi-sector university based in Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. The university also has campuses in Ararat, Horsham, Stawell, Churchill, Berwick, and Brisbane, as well as online techni ...

, Ballarat, in 1995. In 2014 director Paul Cox in filming his feature ''Force of Destiny'' (2015) based on Cox's experience with

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

and a

liver transplant Liver transplantation or hepatic transplantation is the replacement of a Liver disease, diseased liver with the healthy liver from another person (allograft). Liver transplantation is a treatment option for Cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and ...

, used Prest's studio and work to portray the film's hero (

David Wenham David Wenham (born 21 September 1965) is an Australian actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his roles as Faramir in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Friar Carl in ''Van Helsing'', Dilios in ''300'' and ...

) as a sculptor. At auction in 2003 at Christies, Prest's ''Taffrail Delights'' (1989) in wood, copper, tin, steel, stainless steel (152 x 65 x 42 cm) was purchased for AUD 4,465.00 beating an estimate of AUD 800 - AUD 1,200

Exhibitions

Solo

* 1990: ''Trefor Prest,''

Melbourne Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

Pinacotheca A pinacotheca (Latin borrowing from grc, πινακοθήκη, pinakothēkē = grc, πίναξ, pinax, (painted) board, tablet, label=none + grc, θήκη, thēkē, box, chest, label=none) was a picture gallery in either ancient Greece or anc ...

gallery, September-October * 1990: Castlemaine Art Museum * 1990: ''Trefor Prest,'' Melbourne Festival, Pinacotheca, September-October * 1991: Australian Galleries, Sydney, Aug–Sep"Fast Forward: Voyage of discovery," ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', Saturday, 20 Jul 1991, p.148 * 1992: Pinacotheca * 1994: ''Trefor Prest, sculpture'', Australian Galleries,

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

* 1994: Pinacotheca * 2010: Lake Bolac Eel Festival * 2014: ''Fabricated Memories'',

Visual Arts Centre, Bendigo, 26 March to 27 April

Group

* 1972: Sculpture: Pat Brooks, Vlase Nikoleski, Trevor Prest, Ewing Gallery,

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, 26 June 1972 – 7 July * 1975: Nine artists : 1975 graduate exhibition, School of Art, the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne * 1975: Sixth

* 1975: ''Artists' Artists'', with Reg Parker, David Wilson,

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

, Melbourne, September – October * 1978: Seventh Mildura Sculpture Triennial * 1980: ''Some contemporary Australian sculpture'',

Newcastle Art Gallery The Newcastle Art Gallery (formerly the Newcastle City Art Gallery, Newcastle Region Art Gallery) is a large, public art museum in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. History Founded in 1945 with an art collection consisting of 123 works ...

, 15 May - 15 June * 1980: ''Fifteen Sculptors'', National Gallery of VictoriaRobert Rooney, "Bower-bird sculpture," ''The Age'', Thursday 21 Feb 1980, p.2 * 1980: ''Fifteen Sculptors'',

Benalla Art Gallery Benalla Art Gallery is a public art gallery in the regional town of Benalla, Victoria, Australia. The Benalla Art Gallery is a free, public gallery in Benalla, which opened in 1975. Victoria's ''Herald Sun'' newspaper described it in 2013 as one ...

* 1981: Australian Sculpture Triennial * 1981: Melbourne artists,

Watters Gallery Watters Gallery (1964–2018) was a private art gallery in Riley Street Sydney, Australia, run by Frank Watters (1934 – May 2020) with his business partners and friends Geoffrey and Alex Legge. It was influential and well-known, hosting exhibit ...

, Sydney * 1994: ''Sculpture '94'', Castlemaine State Festival 1994 * 1985: ''Sculptors as Craftsmen'', Meat Market Craft Centre, Melbourne * 1988: with

Simon Klose Simon Tobias Viktor Klose (born 3 September 1975 in Lund, SwedenSimon Klose
on Svensk Filmdata ...

, Dale Hickey,

, Robert Hunter,

Rosalie Gascoigne Rosalie Norah King Gascoigne (née Walker; 25 January 191725 October 1999) was a New Zealand-born Australian sculptor and assemblage artist. She showed at the Venice Biennale in 1982, becoming the first female artist to represent Australia there ...

, David Wadelton,

James Gleeson James Timothy Gleeson (21 November 1915 – 20 October 2008) was an Australian artist. He served on the board of the National Gallery of Australia. Early life Gleeson was born in the Sydney district of Hornsby in 1915 and attended East Sydn ...

, and others, Pinacotheca, Melbourne, 29 June-13 August *1993: ''Dame Edna regrets she is unable to attend: Humour and satire in Australian contemporary sculpture'', Nolan Gallery, Lanyon * 1993: ''Excalibur: contemporary artists and Celtic Heritage'',

Geelong Art Gallery The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional art gallery, gallery in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Geelong in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collectio ...

, March - 2 May * 1999: ''Volume & Form: Singapore 1999'', with Geoffrey Barlett; Peter Blizzard; Marcus Champ; Greg Clark; Peter D. Cole; Clifford Frith; Greg Johns;

Inge King Ingeborg Viktoria "Inge" King (; 26 November 1915 – 23 April 2016) was a German-born Australian sculptor. She received many significant public commissions. Her work is held in public and private collections. Her best known work is ''Forward S ...

; Christopher Langton; Adrain Mauriks; Loretta Quinn;

Ron Robertson-Swann Ronald Charles Robertson-Swann OAM (born 1941, Sydney), is an Australian sculptor, best known for his controversial abstract public sculpture ''Vault'' (1980) located in Melbourne, he also known for his sculpture '' Leviathan Play'' (1985), l ...

; Giuseppe Romeo; Richard Stringer; Neil Taylor;

Hossein Valamanesh Hossein Valamanesh (2 March 1949 – 15 January 2022) was an Iranian-Australian contemporary artist who lived and worked in Adelaide, South Australia. He worked in mixed media, printmaking, installations, and sculpture. He often collabora ...

; Fu Zhongwang; Liang Ming-Cheng; Li Ming; Shao Fan; Sui Jianguo; Wang Hongliang; Yu Fan; Zhan Wang; Zhang Yongjian; Zuo Zheng-Yao; Ha Bik-Chuen; Ho Siu Kee;

Kwok Mang Ho Kwok Mang Ho (born 1947), also known as Frog King, is a multi-media, conceptual, visual and performance artist from Hong Kong. According to Oscar Ho, the former exhibition director of Hong Kong Art Centre, he is one of the pioneers of contemporar ...

; Danny Lee; Eddie Lui; Mok Yat San; Tong King-Sum; Van Lau; Wu Man-Wai; Latika Katt; Prithpal Singh Ladi; Prasantha Mukherjee; Pushpamala; Ravinder Reddy;

Vivan Sundaram Vivan Sundaram (born 28 May 1943) is an Indian contemporary artist. His parents were Kalyan Sundaram, Chairman of Law Commission of India from 1968 to 1971, and Indira Sher-Gil, sister of noted Indian modern artist Amrita Sher-Gil. He is mar ...

; Rajendar Tiku; Nindityo Adipurnomo; Anusapati; FX Harsono; Hedi Hariyanto; Mella Jaarsma; Yusra Martunus; Pintor Sirait; Gregorius Sidharta Soegiyo; S. Teddy D.; Shigeyo Kobayashi; Yoshiko Takikawa; Shigeo Toya; Kimio Tsuchiya; Choi Duck-Kyo; Choi Jeong Hwa; Choo Hyun-Jae; Huh Baik; Jeun Loi-Jin; Kim Chang-Gon; Kim Jung-Hoo; Oh Sang-Wook; Park Jung-Ae; Park Suk-Won; Yoo Li-zzy; Youn Young-ja; Yun Suk Nam; Ramlan Abdullah; Frederique Boumeester; Terry Law; Tengku Sabri Ibrahim; Sharmiza;

Aung Myint Aung Myint ( my, အောင်မြင့်, ; born 27 October 1946) is a Burmese painter and performance artist. He is considered a pioneer in experimental art, rejecting traditional romanticism and confronting social and critical issues thr ...

; Rene Boutin; Chris Booth; Christopher Braddock; Derrick Cherrie; Charlotte Fisher; Jaccqueline Fraser;

Christine Hellyar Christine Hellyar (born 1947) is a New Zealand artist who makes sculptures and installations. Education Hellyar was born in 1947 in New Plymouth. She completed a Diploma in Fine Arts (Hons) at the Elam School of Art in 1970. Work Working i ...

; Vicky Kerr; Virgina King;

Judy Millar Penelope Judith Millar (born 1957) is a New Zealand artist, who lives in Auckland, New Zealand and Berlin, Germany. Education Millar received a BFA in 1980 and an MFA from Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts in 1983. As recipien ...

;

Terry Stringer Terry Robin George Stringer (born 3 September 1946) is a sculptor from New Zealand. Biography Born in Redruth, Cornwall, England in 1946, Stringer became a naturalised New Zealander in 1979. He received a Diploma of Fine Arts from the Elam Sc ...

;

Greer Twiss Greer Lascelles Twiss (born 23 June 1937) is a New Zealand sculptor, and in 2011 was the recipient of an Icon Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, limited to 20 living art-makers. Career Twiss was born in Auckland on 23 June 1937, ...

;

Agnes Arellano Agnes Arellano (born 21 November 1949) is a Philippine sculptor known for her surrealistic sculptural groupings. Career A family tragedy that occurred in 1981 determined the course of her career and the major themes in her art. Her parents, her ...

; Gabriel Barredo; Reynato Paz Contreras; Ramon Orlina; Impy Pilapil; Paz Abad Santos; Luis Yee, Jr.; Reginald Yusson; Ayob Bin Ismail;

Chong Fah Cheong Chong Fah Cheong () is a Singaporean sculptor known for many public sculptures in Singapore. He is considered as one of Singapore’s pioneer sculptors and was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's pinnacle arts award in 2014. Though he w ...

;

Han Sai Por Han Sai Por (; born 19 July 1943) is a Singaporean sculptor. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), East Ham College of Art, Wolverhampton College of Art (now the School of Art and Design of the University of Wolverhampton) and ...

; Lim Soo Ngee; Joseph McNally;

Ng Eng Teng Ng Eng Teng (; 12 July 1934 – 4 November 2001), ''The Grandfather of Singapore Sculpture'' was a sculptor in Singapore known for his figurative sculptures, many of which are found in public locations around Singapore. His legacy include the ''Mo ...

; Sun Yu Li; Victor Tan; Chang Tzu Lung; Long-Bin Chen; Dawn Chen Ping; Marvin Minto Fang; Michell Hwang; Lai Chi-Man; Jun Tsun-Tsun Lai; Lee Kuan Yu; Lee Tsai-Chien;

Ju Ming use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

; Cynthia Sah; Tsai Ken; Arthur Yang; Prof. Yuyu Yang; Montien Boonma; Kamol Phaosavasdi; Nitaya Ueareeworakul; Dao Chau Hai; Nguyen Quan; Phan Phuong Dong;

Singapore Art Museum The Singapore Art Museum (Abbreviation: SAM) is an art museum is located in the Downtown Core district of Singapore. It is the first fully dedicated contemporary visual arts museum in Singapore with one of the world’s most important public co ...

Sculpture Square, 21 May–28 June * 2000: Inaugural exhibition QDOS Sculpture Park, with Adrian Mauriks, Jock Clutterbuck, Peter Blizzard, George Turcu, Fiona Orr, Christine Gibson, Shona Nunan, Michael Cartwright, Dan Wollmering, Graeme Wilkie, David Tucker, Bjorn Holm, Russel Petherbrige, Peter Schipperheyn, Anton Hassel, Eva Volny, Robert Delves, Gus Dall'Ava, Paul Blizzard, Jamieson Miller, opened by Dr. Edward Tweddell, Chairman of the Adelaide Arts Festival, 22 April, QDOS, Lorne. * 2003: ''The 8th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition'' : a traveling exhibition organised by the University of Hawaiʻi Art Gallery * 2014: Living Arts Space.with Rhyll Plant and Nena Perrill * 2017: ''Momentum: Kinetic-Robotic-Mechanic,'' Backspace Gallery, Ballarat * 2020: Arts Open, Castlemaine

Awards

* 1977 Project grant, Visual Arts Board * 1980; Standard individual grant for six months, Visual Arts Board

Collections

* National Gallery of Australia * Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery * Artbank * Newcastle Regional Art Gallery * National Capital Development Commission, Canberra (now with National Archives) * Launceston *Federation University Art Collection

Bibliography

* * * * * *

References

Australian male sculptors 1945 births Living people Victorian College of the Arts alumni 20th-century Australian sculptors 21st-century Australian sculptors

External sites

Newstead Open Studios

Trefor Prest Sculpture
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