Video of my show "A Conversation with Giordano."

Matthew Harrison created a beautiful video of my 2014 solo show at the Merchant House Gallery, "A Conversation with Giordano: The Judgement of Paris."  To view, go to http://youtu.be/WCing61L61o.

Inspired by Birds, Norwich Castle

Philospher with Bird, balsa wood and wire, 94cm h. 2013

This is currently showing in Inspired by Birds: Norwich Castle Open Art Show 2014 (Saturday 12 July - Sunday 31st August). The main exhibition downstairs at Norwich Castle - The Wonder of Birds: Nature Art Culture (Saturday 24 May - Sunday 14 September) - is  superb.  There is a stunning Holbein amongst many varied treasures.

Cley 14

CLEY 14  North Norfolk Exhibition Project
I was honoured to be asked by the curators Polly Binns and Rod Bugg to create eight figures to install on the medieval pedestals situated high up within the spandrels of the beautiful, largely C15th church of St. Margaret of Antioch in Cley, Norfolk.   It was hoped I would be able to create 10 figures - there are fourteen pedestals in total - so I included two birds as I was only able to produce eight figures in the time available - all in balsa wood and/or card.  The church is already richly endowed with medieval carvings - it is a delight.

The installation was really difficult to capture in a photograph, and I am  grateful to Pete Huggins who rescued me after my many failed attempts with a fine set of images which includes these shown here.
The figures all referenced nature in one way or other and carried a symbol to this affect reflecting the medieval format.  The Nature figure shown above, second down, was inspired by a C13th  illumination of nature in a manuscript of Artistotle's "Physics".  Other figures included St. Francis, St. George, Adam, Eve, Flora, Archaic Priestess (above), The Good Shepherd.

Phoebe, commissioned full size figure

Phoebe, commissioned work, direct cement on wire mesh, 180cm height, 2012

I have been working on this commission for a year - the clients have been very patient.  There weren't enough funds for a bronze cast from an original modelled in clay or plaster, so this method of building the figure in wire mesh and rendering directly in cement was agreed.  It meant avoiding the problematic weakness of seams in a cement cast with a mould taken from an original modelled in clay. 

I started with drawings exploring ideas for the pose based on the specific location, then 20cm maquettes modelled in wax based on the drawings that the client preferred.  From the selected maquette, I first made a half size version of the figure, testing out the design for the armature and my method of working.  I have to admit I found this process pretty daunting to contemplate - there is no time to make any significant modifications once the cement is applied, and it has to be done in one go, avoiding applying a fresh mix to cement that has cured.  I was lucky to have a good friend, Geoff, mixing the cement for me (2 parts sand, 1 part brick dust), which enabled me to work quickly without interruptions.  Thanks Geoff!

Balsa Wood

Standing Figure with Bird, wire and balsa wood, 86x20x19cm, 2012.
I am exhibiting this sculpture in the forthcoming Halesworth Arts Festival exhibition at The Cut (4th -28th October), along with some other sculptures constructed in the same materials and with the same method.  Namely, this involves fixing two aluminium rods to a base, bending them to the initial lines of a standing posture and then starting to draw in some planes with balsa wood strips, shaped to create movement across the form.  It's not as immediate as using card which I can bend into large sweeping shapes, creating a dynamic whole with a few simple elements.  But it has the advantage of being light and durable, and reflects the light beautifully across its fractured planes.

It is liberating drawing in space with these light, tough materials, so easy to shape after struggling against the heavy wetness of clay which strives always to sink back towards the earth from where it came.  The clay figures demand far greater commitment, as they must be coherent from within the core, suggesting an interior life which emanates outwards into every plain, every detail.  The quality of this inwardness is all, and that is what is so challenging - what is it one wants to say with this innerness, this subjectivity of mortal, vulnerable flesh inhabited by an imperfect consciousness?  No such problems with the balsa wood and wire constructions, thanks to the constructional nature of the materials, they fly free of resolution.  The making process itself, the will to propose, is their substance.

Mandell's Gallery, Norwich

Girl with Bird on Feet, painted terracotta, 2011

Some recent small works will be included in a show at Mandell's Gallery, Elm Street, Norwich, featuring paintings by John Kiki. The show runs from 2nd - 29th October, 2011, Tues - Sat 10.00-17.00 hrs. For more information: www.mandellsgallery.co.uk.

Littoral

Head, terracotta, 17x15x15.5cm, 2010

Chalk Hill Summer Show, 16th June - 3rd July, 2011

Chalk Hill Contemporary Art, 23 Chantry View Road, GU1 3XW

www.chalkhill.co.uk

Censorship of the naked body in the visual arts

Have I Got Nudes for You, A Celebration of the Naked Truth, is an exhibition curated by David Page as a riposte to an incident last year when there was a hoo-ha in the press about an exhibition of nudes by John Vestey in Council offices in N.Norfolk, taken down because of some complaints by council employees. I have contributed three small sculptures to this exhibition hosted at Harleston Gallery, 3 Old Market Place, Harleston, from 4th March - 1st April, Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00-16.00 hrs

It is odd, when you think how easily available pornography is these days, that censorship of representations of the naked body in the visual arts remains such a frequent occurance. My own work was considered unsuitable for showing at Norwich Theatre because it was felt that the depiction of naked forms would be likely to upset families, and I have had the image of a very innocent nude figure rejected from a website on the grounds of indecency. I was more amused than outraged with my experience of censorship: my figures aren't erotic, but neither are they idealised, nor monumentally abstracted, nor ironically post-modern, and that is perhaps pretty indecent of them. Their reference isn't back into art, in spite of many influences, but out towards the transience of life, represented often in the form of 'naked' body.

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'Summer', bronze

Horace Blue, Norwich

Pregnant Woman with Bird on Head, terracotta, 2009

I will be showing some work in the Christmas Show at Horace Blue Gallery, Norwich. The show opens on 28th November 2009, 10.00 a.m. http://www.horaceblue.com/

Chalk Hill Gallery

My next exhibition will be at the Chalk Hill Gallery, 23 Chantry View Road, Guildford: 6th - 22nd March, 2009. For more details go to http://www.chalkhill.co.uk/

New work

"Live and Let Live", figurine modelled directly in wet cement, March
2007