Property developer and former Newcastle lord mayor Jeff McCloy has added to his extensive public art collection by buying the winning exhibit in last month's Sculptures at Scratchley show.
Mr McCloy confirmed on Friday that he had bought Bleaching, a huge timber statue of a leaping whale by Speers Point artist Michael Greve.
The work won the exhibition's people's choice award.
The sculpture was made from a 400-year-old fallen red gum and had an asking value of $200,000, though Mr McCloy said he had negotiated on the sale.
He plans to install Bleaching at the entrance to his Driftwood Shores housing estate at Tuross Head on the south coast near Batemans Bay.
"It's between the golf course and a salt-water lake and around the corner is the ocean, so it's very symbolic of the area," he said.
"It will be the major sculpture in our Tuross Head community we're building.
"It's a marvellous piece of natural art. How these artists see the shape in those things and do it I'll never know."
The sculpture will stay at Fort Scratchley until the end of the year.
Mr McCloy, whose former home in Parkway Avenue, Bar Beach, features two rooftop cannons, has a penchant for buying large sculptures and paintings for his housing subdivisions and buildings.
A bronze "paparazzi dog" statue by Sydney artists Gillie and Marc stands outside his Hunter Street office.
His other purchases include bird and koala statues at Medowie, a cow at Lochinvar and a pelican and fish at Teralba.
He has an 800-kilogram bronze gorilla in storage at Kurri Kurri.
One of Mr McCloy's employees spotted the whale at Fort Scratchley during the recent sculpture exhibition, sent his boss a photo then completed the deal with Mr Greve.
"We visit Sculptures by the Sea and sculpture parks. We're always on the hunt for wonderful pieces," Mr McCloy said.
"We're into art all the time. It's something we love doing."
Fort Scratchley Historical Society president Frank Carter said in a letter to the Newcastle Herald this week that the two-week exhibition had attracted 24,000 people and the society had agreed to host the event again next winter.
To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.
