Artist Folko Kooper has created all sorts of natural works – butterflies, dragonflies, penguins, wrens, lyrebirds, swans, platypus, peacocks, roses, daffodils – that you’ll find peppered through Villawood’s parks and playgrounds, in our clubs, wetlands, marking precincts, at entry and egress points.
They’re part of Villawood’s urban ecology. Like the lemon-scented eucalypts or crimson crepe myrtles lining the streets or the ancient redgums in our parks. They provide an important sense of place and pride for the community and offer an artistic cue to the beauty of the environment around us.
Artist Folko Kooper has been creating evocative, eye-catching installations for Villawood for two decades. He works chiefly in corten steel but will also utilise galvanised steel, bronze, stainless steel, polyethylene, polycarbonate, glass and perspex – even barbed wire.
Folko likes his works to engender curiosity in both the environment and in art. “I try to make them site-specific in a way that speaks to young and old, and which has an element of fun and artistic merit,” he says.
Folko has made everything from oak leaves, tulips, grape leaves and sunflowers to three-metre-high stiletto heels with matching handbag. Families of giant emus, innumerable gates, fences and screens – even bird nesting boxes that look mediaeval, Nordic or a bit 1950s sci-fi. He’s nothing if not adaptable.
“The sculptures are not too serious,” he says. “All I want really is for people, especially the residents, to enjoy them and so enjoy life.”
Villawood began installing urban art in its greenfield areas in 2001 in Wyndham. We have installed them in dozens of communities since and they have become a readily identifiable Villawood signature. Many other developers have followed our lead.
The artworks have raised the standard of amenity and driven many councils to accept sculptures in new estates. Some councils have tried to control the form of artwork but Villawood doesn’t believe artists should have to work under constraints. The nature of art is that it’s free.
The predominant theme in our communities is reflective of nature: birds, animals and plants which people associate and assimilate and understand. Folko is our signature and our residents love to embrace his works.
