MCA Unveils Surreal New Giant Spoon Sculptures By Ricky Swallow On Terrace
Image: Supplied MCA
The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) has unveiled a striking new public artwork by US-based Australian artist Ricky Swallow. Titled Bent Forms #1–#4, the work is the 2025 Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission.
Comprising four large-scale stainless steel sculptures based on bent teaspoons, the new commission is now on display on the museum’s Level 4 terrace, overlooking Circular Quay. The work will remain on view until 20 July 2026.
Bent Forms #1–#4 began in Swallow’s Los Angeles studio as wax impressions of teaspoons. Each was bent and reshaped by hand before being cast in stainless steel using industrial fabrication techniques. The resulting forms range from vertical to horizontal gestures, suggesting movement and transformation.
The sculptures draw on the visual language of telekinesis and surrealism, evoking the illusion of spoon-bending while foregrounding the artist’s interest in materials, labour, and the sculptural process.
“I think of the sculptures presenting as things that have created themselves or forms responsible for their own form,” said Swallow. “I’d like it to feel as if you’re walking into a field of formal mystery, familiar as well as alien.”
Ricky Swallow returns to MCA
Swallow has exhibited internationally for more than two decades and represented Australia at the 2005 Venice Biennale. His work Caravan (2008) is held in the MCA Collection. Bent Forms #1–#4 marks his first major presentation at the museum in several years.
“MCA Australia’s Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission offers a unique opportunity for artists to respond to the physical, historical and culturally significant site of Tallawoladah and Warrane/Sydney Cove. Ricky Swallow has responded to this invitation with a sense of wonder matched by formal experimentation, allowing people to appreciate ordinary objects in new ways,” said MCA Director Suzanne Cotter.
“We are thrilled that people will have the opportunity to experience this thoughtful and playfully provocative new sculptural work by Ricky after many years of absence from the Australian arts scene”.
Ongoing commitment to public sculpture
The Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission supports the creation of new site-specific works, and is named in honour of philanthropist Loti Smorgon AO (1918–2013). Previous commissions include works by Kate Newby, Reko Rennie, Cameron Robbins, and Sangeeta Sandrasegar.
Bent Forms #1–#4 is presented on MCA’s Level 4 Terrace from 6 August 2025 to 20 July 2026. Entry is free with general museum admission.
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