Sneezing Snub-nosed Monkey 2014

LISA ROET born 1967

Sneezing Snub-nosed Monkey 2014

Yunnan marble
100.0 x 121.0 x 80.0 cm
unique

Provenance:
Private collection, Melbourne

Exhibited:
The McClelland Sculpture Survey & Awards 2014, McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, Victoria, 23 November 2014 - 19 July 2015 (as Sneezing Snub Nose)

Reference:
Hall, D. et al, McClelland Sculpture Survey & Awards 2014, McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park, 2014, pp.119-121 (illus. p.118, as Sneezing Snub Nose)
Grishin, S., 'Sculpture in the Bush: A Strong Year for the McLelland [sic] Prize,' The Conversation, 3 December 2014, accessed May 2025: https://theconversation.com/sculpture-in-the-bush-a-strong-year-for-the-mclelland-prize-34811 (illus.)
Edgar, R., I Am Ape: Lisa Roet, IAMAPE Publishing, Victoria, 2023, p.227 (illus.)

EXHIBITED IN MELBOURNE

Estimate: $30000 - 40000

With the ape as her muse, Lisa Roet has won critical acclaim in Australia and internationally for her multidisciplinary practice spanning three decades, including sculpture, drawing and printmaking. Her pieces are held in the collections of such venerable institutions as the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, the British Museum, London, the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and the McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Victoria.

Roet’s work interrogates the relationship between humans and our simian relatives, prompting discourse around human evolution and creationism, language and communication, and science and art. Her work poignantly highlights how we are inextricably linked to the ‘other’ primates, with whom we share over 98% of our DNA, amid the tangle of biology, nature and culture. Roet described her art as ‘a reflection of all aspects of humanity seen through the image of our closest animal relative.We are animal, we are ape!’¹

Roet’s depictions of apes in bronze, marble, charcoal and photography span the genres of still-life, caricature, landscape, classical sculpture, Pop Art and public installation. The diversity of her artistic practice is juxtaposed by the singularity of her vision. While primates are her primary inspiration and subject matter, she uses them to spark dialogue around a broad range of multifaceted issues including climate change and deforestation, racism, sexism, religion, sociology and the
entwined history of art and science. Roet explains, ‘using the animal to reflect the human demystifies the human. It helps us understand the layers of complexity of our own society when seen through something less subjective.^’2 She goes on to say, ‘racism, sexism, colonialism and humanism are all reflected through the
image of the “other” ape.’³

Roet carved the present work Sneezing Snub-nosed Monkey from Yunnan marble, a type of high-quality white marble quarried in China’s Yunnan province. Despite being a particularly hard marble (compared to Carrara marble which is more commonly used for sculpture), Roet chose this medium as it is from the same region in China as the critically endangered snub-nosed monkey. This species was named for its unusual, upturned nostrils, which allegedly cause the monkeys to sneeze when it rains. As Roet’s biographer Ray Edgar points out, this sculpture, ‘with its alluring large eyes and smooth white toylike surfaces … was the nearest she had come to making a blatantly cute work.’⁴ A deliberate decision to further the message of the monkey’s plight to a larger audience. 

The sculpture was originally displayed in The McClelland Sculpture Survey & Awards 2014 at McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park in Victoria, where it was accompanied by a soundtrack of the monkey sneezing. Art critic Sasha Grishin recognised the charming nature of the work, stating that while ‘usually taboo in any discussion of art… it was difficult to find another word for Roet’s sneezing snub-nosed monkey [other than] cute.’⁵ The synergy between this cuteness and the work’s grave environmental message is indicative of Roet’s skill as a contemporary artist. 

Footnotes:

1. Edgar, R., I Am Ape: Lisa Roet, IAMAPE Publishing, Victoria, 2023, p.5
2. Ibid, pp.16-17
3. Ibid, pp.164-165
4. Ibid, p.227
5. Sasha Grishin quoted in ibid, p.227

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