Five Stunning Works to Ogle at Sydney's Sculpture by the Sea 2017

Sculpture by the Sea turns 21 in 2017 and 104 artists — from both Australia and overseas — have come to the party. Until November 5, the two-kilometre stretch of coast between Sydney's Bondi and Tamarama beaches will be dotted with works — overtaking beaches, peeking out of rock platforms, emerging from the sea and towering over cliffs.

Since starting up in 1997, the event hasn't changed much. It's still free. It's still all about plugging public art and boosting artists' careers. And it still brings in the crowds, with about 500,000 people visiting each year. Every Saturday and Sunday will also see artist talks give you the chance to kick back on a bean bag and find out what goes on inside a sculptor's head.

Here are five sculptures to look out for while you're wandering the Sculpture by the Sea trail during the next couple of weeks.

Jessica Wyld

JAMES DIVE: WHAT A TASTY LOOKING BURGER

A giant hamburger, attached to a rope at one end and a fish hook at the other, lies on a rock platform. This, folks, is what artist James Dive imagined as the ultimate human bait. Dive last exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea 11 years ago with the now world-famous melting ice cream truck work Hot With a Chance of a Storm.

Jessica Wyld

STEPHEN MARR: UNDER ONE SKY

Two figures, dressed in suits covered in sky, against a backdrop of real-life sky, stand in an embrace, one another's limbs melting into one another's bodies. It's a beautiful moment of embrace and connection.

G Carr

KATHY ALLAM: PLASTIC PARADISE

Kathy Allam creates art with items usually discarded. For Plastic Paradise, she collected 1000 green and blue bottles over three years to create this abstract plastic landscape that both glitters in the sunlight and makes a statement on single-use plastics.

Jessica Wyld

HARRIE FASHER: THE LAST CHARGE

Standing before this mini herd of mighty horses, it's not hard to imagine the terror of a stampede. Oberon-based artist Harrie Fasher built the sculpture as a centenary memorial to the charge of the Australian Light Horse in the Battle of Beersheba in Palestine on October 31, 1917.

Jessica Wyld

DAVID BALL: ORB

Needless to say, you have to check out the winner of the $60,000 Aqualand Award, which is the wealthiest annual sculpture prize in Australia. Orb is the creation of Mittagong-based sculptor David Ball and, inspired by his experience exploring the outdoors of Sydney's bushland, puts a striking frame around a familiar view. "Orb is a visual metaphor for a break in unity but also conveys humour as such a small force cause's disconnection," Ball said in a statement after winning the prize.

Sculpture by the Sea is on display between Bondi and Tamarama beaches in Sydney until November 5. For more info, visit sculpturebythesea.com.

Published on October 21, 2017 by Jasmine Crittenden