Explore The Life Forms Exhibition at Coco Republic As Part Of The SALA Festival Program
Coco Republic Burnside Village will host a solo exhibition of work titled Life Forms by acclaimed Adelaide sculptor Peter Syndicas as part of this year's SALA Festival.
The showroom will display 20 works by Syndicas, all available for purchase, including his signature bronze, steel and stone pieces alongside works from his stromatolite-inspired series.
Syndicas has a longstanding connection to Burnside Village, where his 11-metre public sculpture Celestial Lifeform hangs as a centre landmark. Coco Republic's showroom looks directly onto the installation, making the partnership a natural fit for this year's festival.
With no institutional training, Syndicas developed his techniques through trial and error, exhibiting publicly for the first time as a finalist in the 2005 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, before working alongside mentor Silvio Apponyi to refine his skills in bronze.
Syndicas is known for sourcing twigs that resemble the human form, magnifying and casting them in bronze, steel and stone to create sculptures with a striking duality between fragile organic origin and bold figurative presence.
Syndicas has been a finalist in the Waterhouse Natural History Prize five times (2005, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2022), won the Sculpture for Sight Award in 2018, and has exhibited in previous SALA Festivals, the Heysen Sculpture Biennial, and the Adelaide Park Lands and Unley Art Prizes.
In 2024, his retrospective Lifeforms surveyed two decades of work at Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne and in 2025 he served as Artist-in-Residence for the Whitsundays Arts Festival. In this year’s SALA Festival, Syndicas is a finalist in The Advertiser Contemporary Art Award.
Coco Republic Burnside Village Showroom Manager Hayley Gogan says the exhibition reflects the brand's broader approach to styling and design.
“At Coco Republic, curating beautiful artwork alongside luxury furniture and interiors is central to how we design a space and hosting Peter's SALA show lets us share that philosophy with our community,” she says.
“We're delighted to welcome Peter's work into our store this August as part of the SALA Festival. Join us to experience his works up close.”
Syndicas says the exhibition offers a chance to show his work in a new context.
“Celestial Lifeform has been part of Burnside Village since the Stage 6 redevelopment, and it's wonderful to see people walk past it every day without knowing the story behind it. This new body of work is an extension of that - taking something small, like a twig or a fossil, and asking people to look at it differently. It’s a remarkable opportunity to place my works next to contemporary design that feels right for this show.”
