Lighter than Air, 2009
Stuck in traffic during peak hour on Riversdale Road, Hawthorn. It’s raining. A red balloon plays dodge-the-traffic up ahead. It’s funny how ideas grow…
Jason Waterhouse’s exhibition lighter than air is a narrative collection of new sculpture and works on paper, all developed from this small, mundane moment.
Deceptively heavy children’s toys – Quad bikes and balloons cast in bronze–play with our perception of weight. The red balloon itself drifts between control and surrender, existing in a state of duality. Sometimes Waterhouse depicts it as a message deliverer, or as an escape device. Sometimes it is a force capable of carrying away the signifier of childhood dreams. Sometimes it is vulnerable, left to the mercy of dark stormy landscapes