Ivan Lovatt is a professional sculptor who has been creating sculpture for private collections, corporations and public exhibition for the past 16 years. Ivan is always looking for new media and novel ways to use what is available. His work is characterized by his ingenuity and innovation, which motivates him to find new and interesting ways to capture his love of nature.
Ivan initially worked with driftwood and reclaimed timber, which he fashioned into exquisite representations of birds and wildlife. He received a great deal of publicity and public acclaim for this work, but it wasn’t long before he returned to using galvanized chicken wire, a medium that lends itself to the sensitivity and delicacy of his expression. By layering, twisting, shaping and pinning this very ordinary medium Ivan creates both abstract and realistic representations, which are tactile, appealing to the viewer to touch. The wire, with its hexagonal shapes can provide a good deal of structural integrity, and with layering and using different gauges of wire it is possible to create very large sculptures. As Ivan’s skills evolved he was drawn to the challenge of figurative work, and he was commissioned to create a series of portraits of famous people for Frank Malerba of the Jackman Gallery in Melbourne before going on to create another series of portraits for several Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museums in the USA, London and Australia.
More recently Ivan is most renowned for his wire representations of wild life which have won him numerous prizes and fans including People’s Choice Awards (2004, 2006, 2008, 2014 & 2018) and the Peer Award (2015) at the Gold Coast Swell Sculpture Exhibition for his super size owl “Merlin”and bee “Macro”, emu “Curious Bird”, "Wolf", lion “Magnificent” and gullah "You're Terrible Muriel!". His work ranges in size from around 30 cm to 3-4 metres in height.
"Eagle Landing"
