Proposal for a Surfers Paradise public sculpture/Paradise now 2006
Scott Redford | Australia b.1964 | Proposal for a Surfers Paradise public sculpture/Paradise now 2006 | Painted laser-cut acrylic on painted steel table | The James C Sourris, AM, Collection. Purchased 2006 with funds from James C Sourris, AM, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
The architecture and design of the Gold Coast is a remarkable phenomenon in contemporary Queensland. The economic wealth of the region has led to the development of a string of beachside skyscrapers and popular resort and entertainment sites that are unique in Australia. Scott Redford has commented:
I think what is important about the Gold Coast is that it is based on the international model for resort cities: Miami, LA, Rio etc. It is a copy culture but one which is paradoxically both truly international and very local at the same time.
Proposal for a Surfers Paradise public sculpture/Paradise now 2006 draws on classic 1950s Las Vegas advertising signs, which Redford has localised by adding once well-known Gold Coast names and text.
Redford is interested in the Gold Coast as Australia’s great unknown city, long seen as an aberration or the height of kitsch. Redford sees it as a city with a history and complex identity. Gold Coast signage becomes the signifier of a particular time; like remembered music or bands, it evokes memories of a particular era. In this case the 1960s and 1970s, when Redford was growing up.
