South Australian artist James Darling dead after quad bike crash

The 77-year-old’s work has been exhibited at the Art Gallery of South Australia and abroad.

South Australian artist and environmentalist James Darling has been identified as the man killed in a quad bike crash earlier this week.

Mr Darling mainly worked in sculpture and previously exhibited his work at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

James Darling with artistic partner Lesley Forwood, from the pair’s website. Picture: Supplied

On Tuesday, emergency services attended a farm at Synott Rd, Petherick, in the state’s South-East, where the 77-year-old and another rider reportedly collided with each other.

The second driver was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, but Mr Darling was killed at the scene.

He was born in Melbourne and worked closely with artistic partner Lesley Forwood, creating sculptures made of mallee roots.

James Darling and Lesley Forwood's sculpture installation Living Rocks: A Fragment of the Universe exhibited at the Magazinni de Sale in Venice, Italy. Picture: Supplied

Triangle 1 at the Centro Cultural Conde Duque in Madrid, Spain. Picture: Supplied

According to the pair’s website, their use of the native root represented “land, culture, genealogy and evolution”.

“(Mallee roots) confront contemporary understanding of the history, ecology and management of the Australian continent and are fundamental to the statements made by the artists,” their website reads.

“No two mallee roots are the same, each must find its place in the whole.

“No matter the concept of a particular installation, environmental references are inevitably present.”

Their work has also been exhibited abroad in Europe and Asia.

Mr Darling’s local exhibitor, the Hugo Michell Gallery in Beulah Park, has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as South Australian artist James Darling dead after quad bike crash