Sculpture in the Park
Introduction to 2004 Sculptures
An introduction to 2004 choice of Sculptures by Guest Curator, Ann Elliot:Human, Animal, Allegory
People have always been close to animals, and both are time and again the subjects of stories and myths. Their closeness has bred dependence, understanding and exploitation. Allegory here is taken to be the symbolic expression of a deeper meaning through a story or scene acted out by human, animal, or mythical characters, or the symbolic representation of a subject. Within the context of just six sculptures there lay countless riches, whether in the formal qualities, backed by skill, or in the ideas presented by the artists, and of course those thoughts brought to six distinctive works through the viewer's observations and predisposition.
Sean Henry's Walking Man 2000 is an everyday sort of character, possibly with untold depths. Nicola Hick's sculpture Limbic Champion 2003 is of course the portrait of a handsome beast, but so much more when our thoughts are allowed to roam. Sophie Ryder's Pink Lady Hare Dancing with Big Brown Dog 2000 is a wonderful fantasy, a bold piece of impossibility made real through the artist's imagining. The most formal of the selection here is Michael Sandle's Woman for Heidelberg 1987, a monument to medicine; whereas Jim Unsworth's circus of performing elephants Circus 2000-2004 surprises, both in its scale and in the way in which metal has been worked by hand to the artist's will.
Sean Henry, Walking Man 2000, Bronze, edition 4/4.
Courtesy of the artist and Berkeley Square Gallery
Sean Henry, Walking Man 2000
Walking Man is a benign figure that does not meet our eyes; he is non-threatening, slightly larger than life. We see that he is focused, relaxed, his thumbs and fingers are loosely curled. He strides with apparent purpose. His clothing is neutral, so it is difficult to assess his status. Folds of cloth and detail in the tailoring of a shirt collar may give the answers. The sculpture is about everyman, a figment of Henry's imagination, one who may also be a construct of our own thinking.
Sean Henry was born in Woking, Surrey in 1965. He studied ceramics at Bristol Polytechnic, graduating in 1987. His work in both ceramics and painted bronze is influenced by medieval sculpture, and religious polychrome sculptures of the Italian Renaissance, which he was able to study in Italy by winning the Villiers David Prize in 1998. He also draws on 20th century exemplars, such as Alberto Giacometti, Lucien Freud and Antonio Lopez Garcia. Henry has exhibited widely, with recent solo shows in Italy, the United States, Australia and Britain, most recently at Canary Wharf. He is represented by the forum Gallery, New York; and the Berkley Square Gallery, London. Sean Henry lives and works in London.
Snigger: little girl or cat? and Limbic Champion
The sculpture is apparently of a girl child with a cat's head, but the subtlety of modelling gives and ambiguous blend of cat and human form to a degree that causes uncertainty in the viewer. This ambiguity occurs time and again in Hick's work. The word snigger (or snicker) for the title suggests a form of disrespect through laughing in a covert way. This poses further questions about who is in charge, the author, or the sculpture that develops its own life through her hands?
Nicola Hicks, Snigger 1998, Bronze, edition 1/6.
Courtesy of the artist and Flowers East Gallery.
Limbic Champion 2003, Bronze, edition 2/6
Courtesy of the artist and Flowers East Gallery.
Nicola Hicks
Nicola Hicks has a highly evolved empathy with animals. In her studio they are allowed free access while she works. Sheep and horses are her regular ‘sitters’. The near human presence of Limbic Champion is not so much to do with the beast's appearance, but with its authority. Treated not as a trophy, but as a sculptural bust of a king or emperor, Hicks poses an array of associations for our consideration. Limbic Champion is located inside County Hall. Please ask for directions at the Help Desk.
Nicola Hicks was born in London in 1960. She studied at Chelsea School of Art in 1978-82, and at the Royal College of Art 1982-85. She was selected for Artist of the Day at Angela Flowers Gallery, London 1984, and her first major break. Since then she has been accorded regular exhibitions internationally. The Contemporary Art Society, the Government Art Collection, and the Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan, amongst many others, have acquired her work. Hicks lives and works in Cumbria.
Pink Lady Hare Dancing with Big Brown Dog
The Hare: symbol of the moon, intuition, magic, enchantment, wisdom and craftiness. The Ojibwe tribe of the Western Great Lakes, Minnesota and North Dakota, consider the hare to have been the first teacher of animals and plants and founder of the art of decoration. As a subject for sculpture, the Hare has held a long fascination for Sophie Ryder, and here she has partnered a lady hare with a dog. The dog, by contrast, symbolises fidelity and nobility, honesty, affection fairness and open-mindedness. As they combine in their dance, they are seen to share qualities of energetic agility and free, lyrical movement.
Pink Lady Hare Dancing with Big Brown Dog 2000, Bronze, edition of 9.
Courtesy of the artist and Berkeley Square Gallery
Sophie Ryder
Sophie Ryder was born in London in 1963. She studied at Kingston Polytechnic 1980-81, and the Royal Academy Schools 1981-84. Her first solo exhibition was held at the Edward Totah Gallery, London in 1987, since when she has exhibited widely in Britain, Europe, America and Canada. She has undertaken residencies and public commissions, and is represented in pubic, corporate and private collections internationally. Ryder lives and works in Gloucestershire, where she has recently established her own foundry.Woman for Heidleberg
Michael Sandle’s sculptures are compelling and uncompromising, particularly when made on a monumental scale. Woman for Heidelberg is one of a series of Sandle’s neo-classical figures that include Der Trommler 1985, St Margaret 1992 and Queen of the Night 1997-99. Woman for Heidelberg was commissioned originally for a hospital. She wears a helmet and is faceless, as are the other figures. She holds a snake coiled to the form of the caduceus, the symbol of medicine, but Sandle chose to use one snake rather than the usual interlocking twins.
Michael Sandle, Woman for Heidleberg 1987, Bronze, edition
Courtesy of the artist and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Michael Sandle
Michael Sandle was born in Weymouth, Dorset in 1936. He studied at Douglas School of Art and Technology, Isle of Man, 1951-54, and then did National Service in Royal Artillery 1954-56, studying part time at Chester and Colchester Schools of Art. He went on to study painting and printmaking at Slade School of Fine Art 1956-59. From 1980 to 1999 he was Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlesruhe. He has exhibited internationally as well as undertaking major commissions, the most ambitious being the Malta Siege Bell Memorial on the harbour of Valetta, Malta 1988-92; and more recently The Seafarer’s Memorial for the International Maritime Organisation, World HQ, London 2000. Sandle is currently the first Kenneth Armitage Fellow, living and working in London.Circus 2000-2004
Since the early nineteen-nineties Jim Unsworth has been working on the form of elephants, both in cast and welded metals. The motif grew from a series of sculptures with biblical overtones on the theme of serpents, which he claims evolved into elephants quite naturally. He has squeezed elephants into tents, balanced them on drums and made them hold umbrellas, but he has also allowed their natural form to dominate, especially in the smaller, cast versions. This is the first work in which he has grouped elephants in the form of a circus, the place where his initial interest was kindled. The sculpture is part installation, part monument, and is full of life and energy, which respects the animality of these performing creatures.
Jim Unsworth, Circus 2000-2004,
Welded and painted steel, Courtesy of the artist.
Jim Unsworth
Jim Unsworth was born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1958. He studied at Reading University in 1976-80. Although the fine art course at Reading was mostly devoted to painting, Unsworth began to make sculpture whilst he was there. He established his studio in Greenwich with other artists, gaining a significant reputation for work in welded steel. He moved to a studio in Bow in 1994, where his large abstract sculptures gave way to figurative works on the theme of the circus and narrative subjects. The form of the elephant became particularly important. Unsworth has exhibited widely throughout his career, supporting his work through teaching. He lives and works in London.If you would like to find out more about public art initiatives in the region please go to: www.commissionsnorth.org
