Quilted Trunk

Born in country Victoria in 1971, Robert Bridgewater completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at Monash University, Melbourne in 1992 and a Graduate Diploma of Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 1995. He has completed residencies in London, through the Australia Council; and France, through the Ernst Mach Foundation. His work is held in a number of public and private collections. Bridgewater currently lives and works in Melbourne. Bridgewater’s carved and incised wooden sculptures 'can be monumental, or delicate in scale; requiring from the artist brute force and strength, but also patience and care. Whether timber, or bronze, the surfaces of Bridgewater’s sculptures proudly display the methodical marks of the artist’s hand, retaining their link to the labour of production and more broadly to historical traditions of object making'. Patrick McCaughey, former Director, National Gallery of Victoria stated: 'Throughout each vein in his work, there sounds the tone of a sculptor unafraid to be personal and to allow feeling to inform his objects. Quite an achievement.'