I first saw a sculpture by Louise Paramor when her Noble ape was exhibited in Melbourne Now 2013; it is currently installed in the garden at the back of NGV International. Other people might know her from her Panorama Station sculpture beside the freeway in Carrum Downs. Then I saw Paramor’s sculpture, Ursa Major being installed in Federation Square for the Melbourne Prize 2014. I hadn’t seen any of her previous twenty or so years of exhibiting sculpture.
Louis Paramor, Noble ape, fiberglass, plastic and steel
Currently the NGV is exhibiting Paramor in two large spaces on the third floor of the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia with a specially commissioned installation of new paper sculptures and a survey of her recent colourful plastic assemblages.
Palace of the Republic is a series of massive paper sculptures. Honeycomb paper decorations on a scale that will leave you awestruck. It is a reference Paramor’s earlier artistic practice before she started to collage found plastic objects.
Louis Paramor, Palace of the Republic, paper, steel, aluminium and plywood
Unlike the personal art of Del Kathryn Barton, exhibited on the same floor to the Potter Centre, Paramor’s sculptures inspires no interest in the artist. There is nothing that I can tell you about her that will help you make any more sense of her art, so I will tell you nothing. Likewise you don’t need to know the history of art, anything of biochemistry or French to make sense of her art. Partially because her art makes little sense; her sculptures are cool and humorous and I know this by the smile that they grew on my face when I saw them.
A curator explains them noting that they “combine formal concerns with a pop-inspired sensibility.” That is arranging found plastic in an asymmetrical way makes them look silly and funky.
Studies for Boomtown is a series of maquettes for sculptures that demonstrate Paramor’s seemingly inexhaustible creativity. Perhaps it is inexhaustible due to the supply of plastic objects in the world.
Louis Paramor, Studies for Boomtown, 2016, plastic, steel, wood
Black Mark 
February 15th, 2018 at 10:45 PM
It is so cleverly done I didn’t realise they were actual items until closer inspection, especially the larger discarded plastic sculptures. Thanks for the background info, it’s a great exhibition. Was it part of the Triennial?
February 15th, 2018 at 11:13 PM
It is a lot of fun, but not part of the Triennial. The Fed Square building on the third floor.
February 15th, 2018 at 11:27 PM
I spent two hours trying to find all the Triennial works in the International Gallery but they are so spread out I missed half of it!
February 16th, 2018 at 12:00 AM
I don’t think that I’ve seen all the Triennial either.