Simon Reece’s Escarpment Rocks are interpretations of the rocks that are, to Reece, the essence of the Blue Mountains. Their powerful beauty resides in their simplicity, in the elimination of the inessential. They are almost purely organic looking, except for the occasional deep clefts formed by fingers, which serve to separate them from mere imitations of escarpment rocks; they are instead spiritual offerings to them. The clay is not treated gently; it is torn, smashed and roughly manipulated. Yet in the serendipity of the textures and shapes formed by their making, and in their submission to the kiln, they echo the shaping of the escarpments through their surrender to weather and the movements of the earth. Whilst these works are maquettes for larger sculptures commissioned by the Cultural Centre, their smallness increases their power. They are mountains, distilled to a size that allows an intimate contemplation. They are more subtle, and thus more human than the sublime reality of their stimulus. They are unfinished sentences, but so too is the constantly changing landscape of the Blue Mountains.