Melbourne Artist Questions Sydney Sculpture's Originality

Melburnian artist Jarrad Kennedy has caused a stir over the originality of a $2.5 million sculpture of a dark blue milk crate in Sydney that he says "throws up a few interesting questions" as to its originality when compared to a sculpture he submitted in 2005 for the McClelland Sculpture Prize.

In a conversation thread on Facebook, Kennedy stresses that he is only "making inquiries", rather than outright accusing the sculpture's artist, Egyptian-born Sydneysider Hany Armanious, of plagiarism — but he is nonetheless surprised by the striking similarity between the works.

Armanious' sculpture was commissioned by the City of Sydney as part of Lord Mayor Clover Moore's $8 million public-artworks project, designed to invigorate the city's streets with dynamic, conversation-starting pieces of art.

Although the surface similarities between the two pieces is objectively obvious, several responders to Kennedy's original post pointed out that his brown sculpture's dimensions of 3m x 3m x 3m were significantly smaller than Armanious' near-14-metre-tall blue crate, as well as pointing to the disparate mediums, locations and purposes of the pieces, in addition to the cultural ubiquity the humble milk crate tends to hold in Australian society.

However, "while the medium may be different ... the fact the crate has been 'scaled up' is cause for concern," Kennedy said. "Location & Purpose are also akin to my intentions as stated on record back in 2005."

City of Sydney curatorial adviser Barbara Flynn has defended Armanious' sculpture, telling The Guardian: “The City is confident that Hany Armanious’s Pavilion is an original artwork consistent with his practice of artistic excellence. The artist has assured us he was unaware of the existence of this particular Melbourne artwork.

“The City requires artworks to be original work and to not infringe the intellectual property rights of any person.”

At the time of writing, Kennedy had not yet heard directly from Armanious despite attempts to get in touch.

"All I'm seeking at the moment is a 'please explain'," he said.