S C U L P T U R E
For as long a I remember, I have been drawn to stone, never seeing this material as inanimate, but somehow imbued with spirit, a consciousness. I began building with stone when I was 14 and in truth, have never stopped.
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Sculpture is simply the latest iteration of my love for stone. Abstract, essential, organic, I rarely seek to impose upon and de-nature the material, but rather attempt to explore the essential potential of any rock that happens to call me to it. To an extent therefore, the concept of being an ‘Artist’ is irrelevant, in that the work does not seek to be ‘clever’ or to express some pre-planned egoically driven design; indeed if anything, my method seeks to remove the ego from the equation and I, to become simply a collaborator, an instrument and spectator in a natural process of accelerateìing energies, that unlocks pathways to myriad surprising and hopefully pleasing potentialities.
My experience of sculpture, whilst intimate is also violent, traumatic even - during my engagement with the material, I tend to test my physical and mental limits, such as results in a blurring of the perceived separation between the body and the material in question, becoming an entanglement of matter and energy, dust, blood, skin, soul and consciousness. This virtual trance in which I operate is likely activated by the sheer and sustained violence of the process into which I naturally seem to fall.
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Thus far, I have tried to restrict the execution of any sculpture to a single day, not least because I do not wish to destroy what has been formed during an experience by the interference of my default egoic conditioning. Often therefore my sculptures convey a sense of being incomplete, imperfect. In this Art imitates Life and I see little merit to the thought of eliminating the essential energy of any given work by endless re-working or perfecting to more closely align with my preconceptions in respect of sculptural ideals. No, in the aesthetic rawness of the work, I sense an active animation and a series of potentials yet to be explored.
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THE 12 DISCIPLES
And that inverted Bowl we call the Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop’t we live and die,
Lift not they hands to it for help – for it
Rolls on impotently as Thou or I.
Omar Khayyam
The work on the 12 disciples began in 2021 in the midst of the first covid lockdown when any feelings I might have possessed in respect of the absurdity of existence, the fear that underpins our animalistic evolution and the impotence in the face of the incomprehensible, were brought into sharp relief.
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Limbless, impotent, block-headed, crude, blunted cranial forms perched impossibly on salvaged coat stands, unable to move, unable to act; my disciples or if you prefer, repeated expressions of the same fears that I and likely all of us possess, the same dread brought about by something as simple as solitude. Have I/we become so very weak?
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The work explores the diminishing of our species, the ever-greater impulse to individualism at the expense of the collective, our entrenchment behind simplistic tribalistic notions, our facile assimilation of cruelty to others by others, our misdirected sense of self value.
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Whilst not forming in any way a part of the thought processes behind this work, were I to humbly draw a relationship with a work of the past, I would relate the 12 disciples to Bacon’s 1944 triptych ‘Three figures at the base of Crucifixion’, whose dehumanising meaning seems all too clear.
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I nevertheless see something very human and beautiful in the 12 disciples, something true or sublime at least, an accessible lesson, a motivation to reflection and just perhaps, the possibility of resetting certain attitudes and behaviours.
ICARUS
The story of Icarus, we all know, a tale of caution that we should remain grounded and in our place. Of greater relevance to me was that my mother described herself as Icarus a few days before the cancer finally ended her life. She had perhaps flown too close to the sun, but had she had the chance to live it all again and learn from any perceived mistakes, she would likely have changed not a second.
All these ​years later, I found this stone resting in the ground as you see below. It seemed at peace, but relayed an Icarus energy, its essential form already clear, its beak its most pronounced feature. Limbless, neutered, I remodelled the stone to better define its shoulder and spine and gave it a feather like texture.​ Despite its weight, some 100 plus kilograms, there is a softness to this piece, contrasting with a certain solid defiance in face of our earth-bound limits. Having begun this life dreaming of the stars, the work is a reminder to continue to challenge oneself, to create with love, regardless of what life throws our way.
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INTIMATE AGGRESSION
A certain sensuality pervades this work, a firm but soft touch, an intention yes, but no clear plan involved or any time lost to contemplation, simply a day’s dialogue with a rock, the destination unknown,
but the process, an extended engagement, simultaneously intimate and violent. Unfinished, imperfect, a little rough around the edges, as are life and love - and thus it will remain.
CONTOUR
An intended piece from start to finish, the first work to test the visualisation if not of a theme but rather, of a series of subjects that interest me; form vs function, the contours of a topographic map, urban architecture, the Einsteinian warping of space / time, cause and effect.
LITTLE SPHERE LITTLE CUBE
Both sphere and cube have a certain tactile manageability; each have an accessible external face, but a hidden universe within.​​
THE ANIMALS CAME 2 X 2
A site-specific work to resolve in some way, 4 meeting points, with 4 different and relatively complex geometries, here I explored organic shapes requiring a certain fluidity. Completed within 4 days,
I did not overly think this work, but approached it with playfulness; nevertheless the work provided an opportunity to develop certain new technical approaches to stone, that I will in time revisit.
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Clockwise, they are named 'Medusa', 'Beehive Sphinx', 'Melting Pot' and 'The Fourth Horseman'.
HAMBURGLAR
A stratified rock, soft above and below but impossibly hard in the centre, the result of who knows what geological proces. In those days, I made numerous attempts at a range of sandwiches, destroying more grinder discs than I care to remember....Promising candidates included a rather tasty looking bacon buttie, but in the end, only the humburglar could cut the mustard.
UNTITLED / CHARLIE CHAN
A certain sensuality continues into this work that remains to this date untitled, even if I’ve taken to calling it Charlie Chan after the benevolent and heroic Honolulu Detective.
Flat surfaces meet soft curvatures, ripples develop into deeper gouges, as if through the effects of time and the elements on the tough, soluble rock; a flower, a cup that overflows, a cartoon figure, both joyful and and deadly serious, raised eyebrows….when working on this piece I could not shake the feeling that it was my tombstone, but to seek a single answer is perhaps a pointless pursuit.
Defy me then, that's fine but defy Detective Charlie Chan at your peril!
