Doran is one of seven artists on exhibition at Gallery 139's Sculptured Out, which also includes works by Helene Leane, Barb Nanshe, Katherine Mahoney, Jeremy Robinson, Alison Smith and Forty Two Mice.

Doran said he had become slightly obsessed with the scaffolding that has dominated Newcastle's CBD and tried to recreate it in an abstract way.

The sculptures are mostly made with steel and enamel, with one piece also incorporating concrete.

Doran said he went through a process of building the pieces, deconstructing and reconstructing them again for about four weeks.

"Sometimes what you do in the process of creating something is more important than the end result," he said.

Doran said the series of sculptures centred around the gentrification of the landscape in Newcastle.

Other sculptors in Gallery 139's Sculptured Out exhibition - Mahoney, Nanshe and Robinson - use various processes to create their works, from moulding clay to soldering iron and casting steel.

Leane and Smith use a similar technique to printmakers, sculpting a printing plate to a monotype and woodcut print.

Doran is also working on a large, 10-foot high piece based on the nostalgia of trampolines, to be exhibited as part of Sydney's annual Harbour Sculpture exhibition in July and August.

■ Sculptured Out: printmaking and sculpture is on at Gallery 139, Beaumont Street, Hamilton, until Saturday, May 9. For more information go to gallery139.com.au or like its Facebook page.