Sculpture Process
Abstract Figurative Sculpture
I am fascinated by the lost wax process in making bronze sculpture. I love the versatility of modelling or carving in wax. The original spontaneous wax model goes through a long process of refinement until the sculpture feels complete and resolved. The final stage of this process is heating the bronze cast to a high temperature and applying chemical patination until the right colour is achieved.
Artist Intention
I believe that sculpture is a direct way of expressing a universal human feeling. In each sculpture I attempt to capture a moment in time and a sense of being or soul.
Recent Work
Since 2016 the RWA Open Exhibition and Sculpture show has given me the space to change my focus from abstract figurative work to more conceptual sculpture that relates to modern industrial life. I have represented people as becoming more like mechanised machines in the "The Journey", "Walkway" and "Iron Men in Box" sculptures".
I have used multiple casts of the same figure in these sculptures and in "Trilogy" and "Tightrope". A group of figures gives the sculpture a larger more universal feeling. Multiple figures in the "Tightrope" reinforces the idea that not just one person walks a tightrope in their life but we all walk tightropes.
In the sculptures "Solitude" and "Meeting" figures sit in a steel box with cut out windows allowing light to penetrate the inside space. The impact of having people compressed into a steel box brings up many feelings of modern life from claustophobia to feelings of security.
The minimalist rusted steel cubes sculpture "Two Boxes" are dwellings without people. The boxes can be moved and rotated on the slate base and still hold a relationship to each other. The cut out windows in "Flat Box" sculpture tempt the viewer to move from a rough rusted outside surface to the inside space lit by other cut outs.
The sculpture "Human Box" holds a screaming figure. My intention is not to scare the viewer by the scream. It is to accept the scream as a dynamic force in all humans. By having the scream held by a hinged mesh box the viewer has a choice as to whether the scream is allowed to be free or remains hidden.