SMALL WORLD explores the tension between solidity and precarity, a delicate balance that Joe Sheehan captures in his latest series of stone sculptures. Rather than focusing on architecture itself, Sheehan’s work delves into the interplay between form and erosion, emergence and dissolution. Each carved stone in this exhibition evokes a sense of structures caught in a moment of transformation – either revealing themselves from their geological origins or fading back into a stony substrate.

The materials Sheehan selects are fundamental to this narrative. Basalt and Argillite stones, sourced from beaches and abandoned quarries at the southern tip of New Zealand, embody a colossal timeline; some as old as 280 million years. These stones, weathered by time and nature, serve as medium for Sheehan’s exploration of place and process.

In SMALL WORLD, each sculpture embodies a sense of quiet tension, capturing the fleeting nature of forms that are neither fully stable nor fully erased. Through these works, Sheehan invites viewers to consider their own connections to the land, and to reflect on the shifting, often imperceptible boundaries between what is built and what is natural, what is temporary and what is enduring.