'Understanding Individualism within Unity' or 'Unity' for short, is on display at the Raveningham Sculpture Trail in Norfolk throughout the month of August. It is 4.5 metres tall and has an energy and presence that makes you stop and look.
The piece carries on the theme of exploring a complete piece of artwork, one which is perhaps a three dimensional painting, a canvas twisting, turning and flowing, held within a sculptural form. I seem to have a need to show that sculpture is not just form, it is a process that brings together a balance throughout, whether in the tension, harmony and movement of the form, or the ambiguity of abstract colouration, contrasting and questioning your initial view. Today we see image after image, it is easy to scroll and think you have already seen it before, I want the onlooker to have to stop, admire the aesthetics, the beauty, the craftsmanship and the artistry, but I also want them to find another story, another layer because they are being forced to look again and again.
The process here was purely reactional, feeling the relationships between laminated reclaimed wood, rolled steel tube, twisted stainless, moulded glass fibre, stainless shaped sphere and the acrylic painting, all the time thinking about how we can thrive through coming together but still needing our own individual self. I fear our system, structures and culture are culling our individualism, potentially killing our creativity and talents.