SCULPTURE SCRIPT

Posed, the figurative sculptures exhibited at Homo Sapiens offer a rare opportunity to contemplate the work of some of the finest British sculptors of the past fifty years. These masters and mistresses of metal are curated to include an illustrious collection of the works of twentieth century artists, together with more recent talents, such as Anna Gillespie whose poignantly emotional sculptures have been placed in Chelsea Flower Show Gardens. The works, ranging in scale from petit maquettes to over life sized, are displayed within the cool white walls and blond wooden floors of Beaux Arts’ airy ambience. Nonchalantly standing, reflectively…

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Four mounted pallid horses emerge from beneath the ebbing Thames. Superficially they acknowledge London’s commercial history and the arterial highway of the river. Temporarily installed, The Rising Tide, sculpted by English artist Jason deCaires Taylor, promotes an agenda against our rapacious demand for fossil fuels. This is a work of sophisticated political activism. Constructed of ashen grey marine concrete with reinforced steel rods, their unsustainability correspondences with the impermanence of our fuel dependence. Humanising this campaign, the riders characterise the present and the future where, dressed in suits, two dispassionate, aged executives whose eyes are closed appear indifferent to the…

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MA Abstract Twentieth-century landscape sculptures, born of Modernism and Abstractionism, replaced the convention and complexity of mythological deities, heraldic iconography and ecclesiastical emblemism with less god-like though wholly recognisable human forms. The radical relocation of these sculptures – from traditional Italianate gardens to landscapes, seascapes and sculpture parks – ensured meaningful connections with their geographic and social contexts. These sculptures humanise the landscape by being curious yet easily understood, unexpected though accessible. The previous literature on landscape and sculpture interprets sculptures, from the emblematic to the emotive is well-documented for historic landscapes but is neglectful of the spectacle of twentieth-century…

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  Receiving an invitation to exhibit in Florence, bestows artistic greatness and historic legacy upon the recipient; an honour previously extended to an Englishman when Henry Moore’s monumental works, and those of other artists, were placed at Forte Belvedere in 1972. For the summer Antony Gormley has temporarily been given sole tenancy for a battalion of one hundred Human sculptures. Crafted from his own image these iron bodies are intended as a generic representation of society. Sited high on a hilltop to the south of the Renaissance city, Forte Belvedere was built at the end of the sixteenth century, to…

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It is difficult to recall the name of any other female sculptor of Hepworth’s generation, a testament to her tenacity and her talent. Her name is regularly listed with the best of the twentieth-century British based Modernists: Epstein and Moore. For those familiar with Hepworth’s sculptures this exhibition will be a joyful reaquaintance with a dynamic artist and a vibrant period. For those to whom her name is vaguely familiar and her art almost unknown, this is a rare opportunity to see works of aesthetic beauty crafted with devotion to an exceptional career. The men in Hepworth’s life – husbands…

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Rarely are we able to gaze so intently upon the image of a stranger yet the spirited works, exhibited by the Society of Portrait Sculptors at FACE15, invite personal scrutiny. Set on eye level plinths in an airy gallery, these are not the austere and intimidating heavy castings of history. They are vivacious renderings of personality and colour capturing the exploration of individuality. Such a wide ranging and thought provoking selection of portrait sculptures defies outmoded expectations. Whilst aesthetically this is predominantly western art its subjects represent a diverse village of ethnicity. This Annual Open Exhibition aims to encourage the…

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