Australian artist Noel Brady deconstructs old pianos and assembles the instruments’ small parts into wall panels and other works of art.
There was a time, back in the 1950s and 60s, when many rural families in Queensland would often gather around the old piano in the corner of the dining room, for an evening of music and sing-a-long.
Way before the Ipod, Itunes, Xbox and indeed, even television itself, friends and families had to entertain themselves, and so many homes relied on the old ‘goanna’ as the centrepiece for the nights’ activities. As time and technology marched on, the old piano became neglected and forgotten.
As a sculptor working in regional Queensland, I happened to come across such an old piano and proceeded to pull it completely apart, eventually reducing it to a collection of hundreds of tiny pieces of wood. I became fascinated by these intricate small parts and then began to realise their sculptural potential.
Pictured: above, Noel Brady’s Convergence, 2009; below, Unknown Pictogram, 2011.
More from Artslink Queensland.
Find other examples of musical instrument repurposing in earlier Unconsumption posts here.
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