National Gallery of Australia. Peter Tully: Liberace Memorial Fountain

Some artists are driven by the end result and final effect, far more than the materials and processes involved. Peter Tully’s masterpiece tribute to the celebrity pianist Liberace certainly falls into this category. Found objects, buttons, children’s wading pools, galvanized pipe, chipboard, crushed synthetic velvet, Christmas tree lights and an awful lot of hot glue.

Indulge me and lets return to two items on that list: Christmas tree lights (operating at 240v) and galvanised pipe (which makes a nice conductor)…
Tully wanted to use multiple runs of Christmas lights and top the fountain with a fibre optic lamp just to give the icing on the cake. Being a practical chap he noticed that a standard extension cord carried 3 wires, of which only two carried active and neutral and decided to economise by making use of the spare green/yellow earth conductors to carry a few extra circuits by making them live as well… Cables were fed through holes drilled in the galvanized pipe vertical column of the fountain with none of the safety niceties one might desire such as cable glands or grommets (or insulated screw terminals for wire connections). Suffice it to say that it was clear Tully was an artist, not an electrician. Looking at the rats nest of partially exposed wiring was enough to make your hair stand on end even with the power disconnected.

The NGA desired to have the Liberace Fountain fully operational in all its mains-powered glory. The artist’s intent regarding operation was clear, but steps were taken to re-wire the internals to be safe, insulated, protected from mechanical damage and cutting, and correctly colour coded.

The end result was truly stunning, but able to be achieved without a body count.