The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia) today unveiled Bent Forms #1–#4 (2025), a new site-specific sculpture commission by US-based Australian artist Ricky Swallow.
For the eighth Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission, his suite of four large-scale stainless steel spoon sculptures transforms the everyday into the extraordinary.
On view until 20 July 2026, the Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission reflects MCA Australia’s commitment to showcasing innovative contemporary sculpture in response to the MCA’s architecture and site.
Created in Swallow’s Los Angeles studio, Bent Forms #1–#4 are stainless steel casts from scaled-up wax prints of teaspoons which have each been bent into different shapes to evoke the illusion of telekinesis — the apparent ability to manipulate objects with the mind. The sculptures playfully reference this idea while drawing a parallel to the artist’s own power to reshape reality through form and gesture. The result is a choreographed group of enigmatic vertical and horizontal figures that blur the line between the familiar and the unfamiliar.
Swallow’s approach integrates industrial fabrication techniques with hand rendered processes in the studio, amplifying the sculptural qualities of the original spoons. Set against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour and adjacent to MCA’s Canvas restaurant, the works invite engagement from diners and visitors alike, transforming the terrace into a dynamic tableau.
Swallow is best known for sculptural works that combine everyday objects and contemporary imagery with references to art history and themes of labour, time and obsolescence. He has exhibited internationally for over two decades and represented Australia in the 2005 Venice Biennale. His work Caravan (2008) is in the MCA Collection.
Swallow’s said about his new commission, ‘I think of the sculptures presenting as things that have created themselves or forms responsible for their own form. I’d like it to feel as if you’re walking into a field of formal mystery, familiar as well as alien.’
MCA Australia Director, Suzanne Cotter, said about this new sculpture commission, ‘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. 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.’
The Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission is named in honour of Mrs Loti Smorgon AO (1918–2013), who, together with her husband Victor Smorgon, donated 149 artworks to the MCA Collection. The creation of a sculpture terrace for the Museum realised a long-held desire by Loti Smorgon to support Australian sculptural works. Bent Forms #1–#4 (2025) is the eighth in a series of site-specific commissions for the outdoor sculpture terrace which overlooks one of the best views of Sydney Harbour. Past commissions include works by Kate Newby (2024 –2025 ), Reko Rennie (2023 -2024), Cameron Robbins (2021–2023), Danie Mellor (2019), Caroline Rothwell (2016), Sangeeta Sandrasegar (2014), and Hany Armanious (2012).
The Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission is generously supported by Lead Patrons Ginny and Leslie Green, 2025
Ricky Swallow’s Bent Forms #1–#4, the Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace Commission for 2025 is presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, on Level 4 Terrace from 6 August 2025 – 20 July 2026.
