Still Life with Stone and Car Sculpture

On a seemingly ordinary roundabout in Walsh Bay, sits an extraordinary sculpture. It’s called Still Life with Stone and Car. This isn’t your typical bronze statue or marble carving. Still Life with Stone and Car features a crushed Ford Festiva. A large quartz boulder, painted with a placid face, rests on top of the mangled car. This captivating piece was created by Jimmie Durham, a Cherokee artist from Arkansas, for the 2004 Biennale of Sydney. Originally, the crushing was a performance. Durham painted the stone’s face on the Sydney Opera House forecourt. Then a crane dramatically dropped it onto the car below. Durham described the work as being “concerned with monuments and monumentality, but also with nature; that implacable hard stuff.” He likened the scene to a road accident, though he didn’t intend it to be humorous. The artwork later found its permanent home here in Walsh Bay. As you approach along Hickson Road, you might notice road signs by Australian artist Richard Tipping. They playfully warn “ARTWORK AHEAD.” The placement on a roundabout in an arts precinct makes the sculpture highly visible and accessible. It encourages contemplation on the relationship between nature, human creation, and the unexpected beauty that can arise from destruction. Still Life with Stone and Car is a striking reminder of the power of art to transform the mundane into the memorable.