![David Hamilton with his exhibition called Place in Time which opened at Blenheim Gallery, Longford. Picture by Craig George David Hamilton with his exhibition called Place in Time which opened at Blenheim Gallery, Longford. Picture by Craig George](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184500760/795fdc07-c1d7-44a2-9e2d-bda919984b1c.jpg/r0_0_7728_5152_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
As sculptor David Hamilton settled into a life in Paris, influences beyond the museums were revealed.
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Renown for his work in Tasmania and Australia, Mr Hamilton now brings his Paris inspired works to Blenheim Gallery and Garden in Longford.
Titled Place in Time, the cast bronze and aluminium sculptures play on political and social commentary, and take influence from the numerous boats buildings that crowded the edge of the Seine.
"After being in Paris for a while, I got sort of sucked into the idea of the boat moving up and down the river," Mr Hamilton said.
"The boat shape became more obvious in my work, and so I started to use it as an example of what Paris looked like.
"Paris from the waterfront looks pretty chock-o-block, and eventually the boat became a metaphor for the world; I looked at things like refugees and sheep ships, even Cardinal Pell."
Over the past decade Mr Hamilton has exhibited in over 30 curated and juried exhibitions both in Australia and overseas.
Many UTAS staff and alumni would recognise Mr Hamilton's "Bolt" sculpture commissioned by the University of Tasmania in 2006, where he was the head of sculpture for 30 years.
![Sculptor David Hamilton with his exhibition, Place in Time at Blenheim Gallery, Longford. Picture Craig George Sculptor David Hamilton with his exhibition, Place in Time at Blenheim Gallery, Longford. Picture Craig George](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184500760/9ca9eb54-4746-4fdf-b499-bb6630ddb630.jpg/r0_0_6895_4597_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
As he normally works with larger pieces, Mr Hamilton said it was nice to work on a smaller scale.
"This body of work is called Place in Time because there's just this period of time where I wasn't doing this exclusively.
"And during the winter months, when I couldn't work in a larger workshop and didn't have any bigger projects on, I'd sit down and just make these," he said.
"I had all these drawings and thought I've got to do something with them so I just worked through them; it's kind of separate to what I've spent my life doing."
Blenheim Gallery director Jennie Caswell said Mr Hamilton's history with sculpture in Tasmania "had been phenomenal."
"Both as a lecturer and also as a practicing artist, so very worthy to have the exhibition; just stunning bronzes which are, as David says, a nice dimension to what he does," Ms Caswell said.
Place in Time will be on display at Blenheim Gallery and Garden until November 4.
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