New Boot Camp artwork graces Scott Alley as the Metro Tunnel prepares to open

These boots were made for walkin’; and that’s just what they’ll do; one of these days these boots ... are going to pique your curiosity and lead you down Scott Alley!

Ahead of the opening of Parkville Station where artist Patricia Piccinini’s Vernal Glade will be able to be enjoyed by Metro Tunnel passengers, Melburnians now have an opportunity to visit Piccinini’s bright and cheerful new artwork Boot Camp in Scott Alley in the CBD.

“It’s actually a really interesting space because there’s a barber there, there’s banh mi ... there’s a lot of life in Scott Alley,” Piccinini said.

“[The work] is part of this very convivial atmosphere. And Boot Camp is a really joyful work, the colours are really vibrant ... it’s positive and optimistic, it’s uplifting.”

Piccinini’s work is in mixed media – from sculpture through to video and installation – and Boot Camp is no exception. The work consists of a photograph taken of a glass sculpture Piccinini created, made of many coloured glass cowboy boots piled on top of each other. While the boots are made of glass, the image of the sculpture has a jelly-like feel to it.

“I’ve broken many of those boots, so it’s delicate work. It’s interesting to see this work in this reproduced state – that delicate aspect isn’t there because it has to be resilient on a hoarding.”

This tension between delicate and brittle, decorative and utilitarian is what Boot Camp is all about.

“These boots are one of the iconographies I use in my practice that occur over and over again in different forms. I’ve made them in glass, in silicone, in many different ways.

It’s an iconography I really love, because cowboy boots are a very masculine thing made for cowboys, but they’re full of ornament. And I love how those two things can exist in one boot – a moment where men can really express their interest in decoration.

Piccinini’s work can be found all over the world – including on Metro Tunnel’s Parkville Station concourse. Vernal Glade is a beautiful work made up of handmade ceramic tiles that focuses on contributing to the wellbeing of those in its presence.

The Metro Tunnel – the biggest upgrade of Melbourne’s train network since the City Loop opened in 1981 – will open in early December.

It will transform the way we move across Melbourne – while delivering more trains, more often.

You can check out Boot Camp in Scott Alley now until mid-December. •