Neon Parc, Melbourne
Bundanon Art Museum, Illaroo
island, New York
(1) Installation view
(2) Institution (detail view)
(3) Institution, 2026
steel, epoxy modeling compound, scagliola, pigments (French ochre, buff titanium, caput mortuum, Italian burnt sienna), stone wax
89 x 30 x 11 inches
(4) Installation view
(5) Master, 2026
steel, aqua resin, aqua glass, marble dust, liquid urethane, colorants, epoxy gloss, galvanized bolt
40 x 17 x 13 inches
(6) Master (detail view)
(7) Installation view
(8) Installation view
(9) Installation view
(10) Victory, 2026
steel, epoxy modeling compound, sand, aqua resin, liquid urethane, colorants, concrete, rust, electrical tape
95 x 31 x 26 inches
(11) Victory (detail view)
(12) Bedrock, 2026
steel, epoxy modeling compound, scagliola, pigments, stone wax, epoxy gloss
10 x 7.5 x 6.5 inches
(13) Deadweight, 2026
steel, epoxy modeling compound, aqua resin, aqua glass, plastic mesh, epoxy gloss, liquid urethane colorants, sand, aggregate, concrete, cement, lime paint, concrete colorant
71 x 25 x 32 inches
(14) Deadweight (detail view)
(15) Installation view
(16) Installation view
(17) Installation view
(18) Slab, 2026
steel, exposy modeling compound, aqua resin, pigments, sand, epoxy glass
21 x 9 x 5.5 inches
(19) Slab (detail view)
June 4 - August 15, 2026
island is pleased to present Deadweight, a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Nabilah Nordin. Nordin’s sculptures are characterized by their formal and material breadth. She builds, demolishes and reconfigures her forms so that they appear to teeter on the edge of collapse. Often working at scale, her distinct language has developed over the last decade in Australia, Asia, and most recently the United States.
For Deadweight, Nordin works in the guise of classical sculpture, adopting the appearance of excavated or preserved historical objects. The authoritative association of this trope is undercut by industrial interventions – a galvanized bolt protrudes from a bust; a dilapidated relic rests on a laminated stage. Each work contains a contradictory logic, traversing historical time, material life cycles, and its own physicality. Institution, for instance, appears to be a statuesque tower of bulky marble forms, stacked upon one another and connected by improbably delicate necks. After welding a steel armature, Nordin coated the work in scagliola, a 17th century technique combining gypsum, hide glue and pigment to imitate the grandeur of marble and precious stone. In the titular work, Deadweight, a calcified, earthen object is propped up vertically in front of a reflective yellow structure and held in place by exposed steel rods. The laboratory-clean yellow acts as a backdrop, framing the encrusted object and producing an artificial gravitas that mimics an archaeological site or museological display. The weight of art history is repeatedly cast as a ‘deadweight’ – both a burden and an opportunity for expanding the parameters of artistic production today.
by Nick Modrzewski
If you pick up an unconscious body, the limbs will dangle unhelpfully like tubular sandbags. The body bends at every joint, pulling away from the center of gravity. The neck offers no assistance. The core is loose. The stomach flops. Congratulations! You have picked up a deadweight. It is hard to carry. Harder than a conscious body, which helps by bracing muscles and stabilizing the mass. Firefighters know this and use techniques to assist, such as the Over-Shoulder Carry, the Shoulder Pull, and the Blanket Pull.
Pneumatic Drill Discovers Deadweight Underground
It is hauled up and presented on an operating table. It is vertical. It is hard to carry. It is ready for inspection. It is a horse’s leg. "It is a trunk," says a member of the academy, formally trained at the Institution, "The deadweight is re-distributed, stacked on top of its own catastrophically thin neck."
This is met, generally, with disagreement. Errors have been made. On closer examination, the Victory is actually a crushing defeat. The Institution thrives, while a spear passes gently through its head. There is talk of "animating the inanimate", but the Deadweight is very much dead.