By Tijana Birdjan
Brett “Mon” Garling’s childhood in Lightning Ridge was spent outside admiring his mother’s artistry while using a butterknife to carve sandstone for her to paint on.
His nickname “Mon”, short for “Monster”, came from his childhood curiosity with animal specimens and their anatomy.
As his talent in the art realm grew, his knowledge of anatomy developed and morphed into an interest in creating life-size figurative and bronze sculptures.
Having "nine years of commission work" in front of him, Brett joked, he is currently working on four bronze horse sculptures to exhibit in Forbes by the end of the year.
“Making the armature is the longest procedure to creating the piece – if the bones aren’t correct then the finished result won’t be correct,” Brett explained, stressing that his understanding of anatomy is crucial for designing the sculpture.
The clay sculpture of the horse took him three days to complete: "It’s like anything – you work fast when you know what you’re doing."
Brett explained the process of rubbering, waxing and casting the bronze to Dubbo Photo News, saying “once a sculpture is covered in bronze – you can’t go back to remodel it”.
Before every life-size sculpture, he creates a Marquette so as to visualise his designs and resolve his engineering issues on a smaller scale.
He shared that the project for the Forbes exhibition will consist of four life-size horses staggering on one or two legs.
Uneven bronze distribution is a challenge he said, confirming that he will be putting a stainless steel rod through the horses’ hips to adjust their positioning to enable their stance.
Brett laughed saying he still faces challenges with the technicalities of engineering as every piece has intricate dimension.
“The more dynamic the sculpture, the more engineering problems there will be – but that’s what makes it more detailed."
The trouble with commission work is the deadline, he continued, saying that he often wishes he had six additional months on his pieces to produce quality up to his ‘perfectionist’ standard.
In between all his deadlines, Brett shared that he often paints landscapes during early mornings.
Asking him to share his favourite medium between painting or sculpting, Brett expressed that he does not differentiate between the styles.
Because of his artistic credibility and experience, Brett is able to reject commissions he doesn't favour.
“There have been times in my younger years when my children were young, and I had a mortgage to pay off whereas now the financial stability has allowed me to pick and choose what I want to do,” he said.
He shares that when commissioners ask for a piece, he asks for the idea and creates three thumbnail prints, from which they select one.
“If someone tells me they want exact replica of something I have the ability to decline it,” he continued, saying that his name would be connected to something that is not his idea.
“Previously I wouldn’t reject them and in hindsight I am thankful for them because they have (brought) me to where I am now. If I had a choice to remove (some of) my previous work from the public eye – I would,” he said.
Through his artistic temperance, he views some of his previous collections as lesser works than those he is capable of producing today.
He noted that it bothers him to turn work away as he knows organisations will get someone else to design the piece and it will be of a lesser quality than he could have produced.
“There are only half a dozen sculptors in Australia who are capable of the same quality and of course they are going to go with the cheapest option or the one with the loudest mouth,” Brett argued.
“In the art world – much like any other world, it’s usually the one with the biggest mouth that ends up doing the job.
“Look at modern art now for example, if you can splash some paint and the wall and write and essay explaining it you can earn millions.”
Brett further describes his challenges within the art realm by using an analogy of him on a singing show: “If I went on a singing show, I would be on the bloopers, but if a person with no artistic talent enters an art competition they can potentially win.”
He raised the question asking what the definition of conceptual art is.
“Everything is seen as good in the art world and we’re made to think that unfortunately,” he said.
Brett told Dubbo Photo News he strived to bring better art education by implementing quality artwork and changing the attitude towards art.
“I paint with the best artists in Australia so why would I need to see paint thrown on a wall and it being called ‘abstract art’?” He laughed.
Brett shared his struggle through COVID-19 as the prices of clay and other materials increased.
“It was challenging because of all the contracts I signed before the pandemic, the quotes were inaccurate to the pricing – I was barely scraping by at certain stages,” he said.
Over the decades, Brett has successfully distributed his pieces globally in galleries across the world - in Canada, America and New Zealand - and he laughed saying once they leave the gallery, he has no knowledge of their next movements.
