Gestation

Commissioned for World Expo '88; fabricated in Seattle and flown to Brisbane. Spiral "meeting place" form symbolizing the cyclical, balanced nature that nurtures life; inspired during the gestation of Oakes's first child. Lost ~2012, relocated 2013, restored 2018 for the Expo '88 30th anniversary. CREATION & RESCUE STORY (from Baile Oakes, Foundation Expo 88 interviews 2013): Conceived during his wife's pregnancy with their first child. Began as a ~15cm bronze maquette; a photo staging it against a downtown LA building reached John Truscott, Artistic Director of World Expo '88, who commissioned the monumental version. Fabricated at an artist studio in Seattle, Washington; the studio ran late and missed the sea-freight container out of Oakland, so Oakes spent ~2 weeks persuading Qantas to air-freight the multi-tonne bronze, it fit through the nose of a Boeing 747 freighter 'clearing by centimeters.' It arrived in Brisbane a week before opening; the foundation was poured during a huge rainstorm, the crew working in 6-8 inches of water. Sited in a plaza beside the USSR pavilion (Expo '88 was the last expo the USSR attended); Oakes dedicated it to regeneration and peace. After Expo, Brisbane City Council bought it and placed it at Emma Miller Place. It went missing ~2009-2011 (likely for overpass construction), was found in storage, restored (graffiti on exterior only), and rededicated for the Expo 25th anniversary (2013), relocated to the top of Queen Street Mall. A ~90-minute 'Making of Gestation' documentary, thought lost for 25 years, was recovered in 2013.