Costco goes sculptural

When Costco opened its very big warehouse doors last month it also launched an exciting sculptural installation created by local sculptor, Louise Paramor.

Titled Heavy Metal Jam Session, the first of the six pieces that will make up the installation is now in place, the other five will be located throughout the landscaped space in front of the store and was expected to be in place by late September.

Ms Paramor explained: “The concept is a further development of earlier projects of mine which have utilised industrial and domestic plastic objects to form abstract sculptural assemblages.”

“For Costco, I have designed a suite of large, bright, gloss-painted steel sculptures that represent a diverse and colourful array of familiar objects. The types of objects depicted in the suite include a shipping pallet, stools, chairs, shelves, balls, light fittings, a washing line, a hoop, tables, buckets, lampshades, washing machine parts, a plant pot, bowls and bins. This assorted group of generic products, jammed together in the most playful of ways, explicitly references Costco’s own wholesaling activities,” Ms Paramor said.

And, despite the plastic-like-look of the pieces, they are of course made of metal – much sterner stuff than their plastic counterparts.

“The collective title, Heavy Metal Jam Session refers to a playfulness inherent in experimental musical ‘jam sessions’, with the ‘heavy metal’ part being a word-play that refers to a type of musical expression as well as alluding to the materials used to create the works,” Ms Paramor said.

“It is a really exciting project, it has been really interesting playing around with scale and placement, as well as translating smaller, plastic sculptures into large works made of a permanent and weighty material. I believe that this is the first time Costco has incorporated artworks in any of their stores anywhere, so as Australia’s flagship store, this is breaking new ground.”

Ms Paramor is also the recipient of the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture 2008, VicUrban prize.

“It is so coincidental to have been successful with both the Costco commission and the VicUrban prize as both are located in Docklands. The VicUrban Prize will involve a residency. Details are yet to be determined, but it will be very exciting to have the opportunity to be involved in other cultural initiatives throughout greater Melbourne,” Ms Paramor said.