MELBOURNE sculptor Roh Singh has taken out the Popular Choice prize in the 2007 Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award exhibition at Werribee Park.

His work, Domestic Disturbance, collected the most votes from the public visiting the exhibition.

Mr Singh wins $5000 to further his skill and knowledge of sculpture.

“I was thrilled to be in the exhibition to start with, so to win this award is absolutely fantastic,” Mr Singh, 30, said.

“I’m going to use the money to visit the Venice Biennale, the world’s biggest art fair, later this year.”

According to Mr Singh, Domestic Disturbance constructs forms through the visual aligning of holes in clear acrylic sheets, where positive forms are represented through the negatives of multiple holes.

There are 75 sheets, containing tens of thousands of tiny holes in the sculpture, which is three metres long, two metres wide and 1.5 metres tall.

“As you walk around it, it’s like your eyes join the dots, creating images of shape and form,” Mr Singh explained.

“I hoped to confound the viewer with what is there and not there at the same time, and I put this into a domestic setting.

“I wanted to get people to think about their lives.”

Mr Singh won Melbourne’s Fundere Sculpture Prize in 2002.

He has also received a $10,000 Arts Australia Council grant, which he used to create Domestic Disturbance.

“Being a sculptor is a dream job to me,” he said.

More than 20,000 people have visited Werribee Park since March 1 to view the 21 finalists’ works.

Julia Davis was the overall winner of the Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award, which was announced at the beginning of the exhibition.

She received $80,000 and a $15,000 professional development package for her work, Meniscii, which will be permanently sited in the Werribee Park Sculpture Walk.

Submissions for the 2008 award will be available on the website www.lempriereaward.com.au from June 15 to August 31 this year.