Tag Archives: sculpture

Depicting a sea creature at a garden in Devon

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DESPISED BY MARINERS whose boats are fouled by these creatures that attach themselves firmly to the hulls of vessels, they are important in the seawater eco-systems. I am referring to barnacles, which are arthropods of the subclass Cirripedia. The mature barnacle attaches itself to surfaces including boats, seashells, sea creatures including whales, and rocks, using an incredibly strong glue that they secrete. Once stuck in place, they feed by filtering the water through their bodies, extracting plankton from it. Thus, barnacles assist in the purification of seawater. For those who are concerned with ecological matters, barnacles are a useful indicator of water quality in coastal environments.

Our daughter, who is the curator at UP Projects, an organisation that commissions and executes public art works, has been involved in producing a sculpture, “I travelled 66 million years to be with you and then you came”, created by the artist Anne Duk Hee Jordan. It was unveiled on 4 June 2025. The sculpture is a depiction of the bodies of barnacles, greatly enlarged, perched on a pile of slate stones on which shapes of fossils have been carved. The barnacles are sculpted in porous materials that, like real barnacles, filter and purify water that passes through them. As UP’s website explained, the barnacle forms:

“… are made from materials with water-filtering properties, including Roman concrete, a plant-based version of activated charcoal known as biochar, shell fragments, zeolite minerals and iron oxide …”

By using these materials, the barnacle sculptures not only resemble the creatures’ forms but also their filtration functions.

The sculpture is being displayed in the garden of A La Ronde, a curious eighteenth-century house near Exmouth in Devon for a few months. Maintained by the National Trust, this (almost circular) building has sixteen sides and a central octagonal lightwell. It was built in 1796 by two cousins, Jane and Mary Parminter. With fine views of the River Exe and its estuary, the eccentrically designed house is filled with curiosities collected by the Parminters. These objects include many natural items such as seashells, bird feathers, fossils, bones, and rocks. No doubt some of these specimens have the shells of dead barnacles attached to them.

It is quite appropriate that Duk Hee’s modern sculpture, which simultaneously celebrates the importance of barnacles and purifies water falling on it, has been placed in the garden of a house once owned by two ladies who, judging by their extensive collection of seashells and other natural objects, had a great interest in the environment in which they lived. The artist’s creation serves as an object on which to concentrate while contemplating the importance and fragility of the eco-system that supports life as we know it.

Two interesting artists at a farm in Somerset

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DURSLADE FARM NEAR Bruton in Somerset is home to a branch of the international commercial art gallery, Hauser and Wirth.  Until 1 February 2026, there is a wonderful exhibition of artworks by Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) and his partner, wife (for a while), and long-term collaborator Nikki de St Phalle (1930-2002). Both artists produced highly original and very imaginative creations.

 

A collaboration by Tinguely and de St Phalle

The sculptures created by Tinguely are frequently examples of kinetic art in which elements of the sculptures are made to move by motors, which are parts of the artworks. His sculptures often resemble unusual machines. Some of his works were collaborations with Nikki de St Phalle.

 

Nikki’s works are often colourful, playful, and figurative. In one room of the exhibition, the viewer is introduced to an interesting method of creating artworks used by de St Phalle. She used a rifle to fire bullets filled with paint at various targets. When the bullets hit the targets, they splattered the paint contained within them. A few examples of this procedure are on display in the show.

 

The exhibition is held both inside and outside  the buildings at Durslade Farm. The works outside were by de St Phalle. Those by Tinguely are all inside. Every 10 minutes, the sculptures with motors are activated for a few minutes. They are now too fragile to be run continuously or left in the  open air.

 

Hauser and Wirth Somerset  (at Durslade Farm) is now a popular destination not only for its art shows but also for its restaurants, garden, and pricey farm shop. However, its art exhibitions are always superb, and the current one is no exception.

Superb sculptures at a gallery in South London

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HE WAS BORN in Chicago (Illinois) in 1935 and as a child was often taken by his mother to public galleries in the city. Maybe at least partly because of this Richard Hunt, who died in December 2023, became an artist. In 1953, he was awarded a scholarship to study at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was there that his interest in working with metal began and that he became acquainted with the work of the leading modernist artists of the 20th century. He taugh himself welding, and many of his fascinating sculptures that are on display at the White Cube Gallery in Bermondsey (until 29 June 2025) can be seen, beautifully displayed.

Many of the sculptures consist of bits of waste metal that Hunt salvaged, modified, polished, and welded together. Other sculptures are made of cast metal. Many of Hunt’s works are abstract, but suggest to the viewer that they might also depict transformations of organic forms. Each of the sculptures is intriguing and original. The influences of other artists might be subtly evident in some of them, but they are not at all obvious. The gallery’s website noted:

“Hunt developed a sculptural language that was both deeply personal and richly associative, drawing on a broad array of influences: the forms and rhythms of the natural world; the mythic narratives of Greek and Roman antiquity; his cultural heritage and global travels; the formal vocabulary of European modernism and the legacy of African American civil rights leaders who shaped his time.”

 As one looks at the works on display, many of the things in the quote above become apparent.

Although some of the works at White Cube are quite small, Hunt has produced many huge works – too large to be within the White Cube – that are displayed in public places. I thought that Hunt’s sculptures were wonderful, and was surprided that until visiting this show I had not been aware of his work.  The show at the White Cube was quite a wonderful eye-opener for me and I can strongly recommend seeing it.

Wood as art and the art of woodwork

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DURING THE EASTER weekend, we visited two exhibitions. Unlike many exhibitions I have written about lately, neither of them finish soon. Both shows relate to wood and trees. One is being held at the Serpentine South Gallery in Kensington Gardens and it ends on 7 September 2025, and the other is at Japan House in High Street Kensington and continues until 6 July 2025. So, there is plenty of time to see both exhibitions.

By Giuseppe Penone

The show at the Serpentine is of artworks by the Italian artist Giuseppe Penone. I have already written a bit about him (https://adam-yamey-writes.com/2025/04/15/boulders-lodged-in-trees-at-a-park-in-london/). I did this after seeing those of his works that are on display near the outside of the Serpentine Gallery. I have now seen what is on display within the gallery, and was pleasantly surprised. Penone is fascinated by the intricate relationships between humans and nature, and this is what inspires his artworks. Many of the artefacts (paintings, installations, and sculptures) on display relate to trees and their leaves. The walls of the central hall of the Serpentine Gallery are lined with containers that hold thousands of dead laurel leaves. Another exhibit consists of semi-abstract sculptures that resemble human forms, and these are entwined with living plants growing out of large flower pots. Other works are formed from pieces of wood and twigs. One particularly effective work consisted of living branches with leaves and twigs. One of the twigs has been forced through a hole cut in a photograph of a man’s face in such a way that the twig seems to have grown from within the centre of the eye. I like this piece because it encapsulates what Penone does: he sees nature through his eyes and is inspired by what he sees.  

In contrast to Penone’s work at the Serpentine, which is art for art’s sake, the exhibition at Japan House is designed to illustrate how man can create artistic yet functional artefacts from wood. Called “The Craft of Carpentry: Drawing Life from Japan’s Forests”, the show sets out (successfully) to illustrate the amazing skills of traditional Japanese carpentry. This informatively labelled exhibition has exhibits showing the variety of tools used, the types of wood employed, the range of joinery methods, templates for cutting shapes, and some of the final products including a life-size replica of the Se-an teahouse in a temple in Kyoto. Although everything on display is related to creating functional products, each exhibit is so beautiful that it could be considered a work of art in its own right. As with every exhibition I have seen at Japan House, the exhibits are displayed imaginatively and beautifully. The exhibitions themselves are works of art.

I recommend visiting both exhibitions not only because they are fascinating but also because they illustrate two completely different approaches to dealing with trees and their wood.

A sculpture in Central London that needs some care and attention

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AT THE NORTHEAST corner of London’s Lincoln’s Inn Fields, there is a tall (15 feet high), wavelike, metal art work. I am undecided whether this sculpture by Barry Flanagan (1941-2009), who began studying at St Martins School of Art shortly before my mother stooped sculpting there, is a flattering addition to the historic Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Called “Camdonian” and constructed with a kind of steel, it was created in 1980.

It was restored in 2022, but now (April 2025), it is covered with graffiti and dirt including bird droppings. It needs to be cleaned up. As a sculpture, it appeals to me, but I do not feel that it enhances the locality where it is placed. Although it is large, it looks a bit lost where it is.

Boulders lodged in trees at a park in London

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WHEN WALKING IN Kensington Gardens March 2025, I spotted three trees planted in an open space outside the Serpentine South art gallery on the west side of Kensington Gardens. Taller than many of the trees around them, they had not been there when I visited the area in November 2024. Without foliage and with few branches, they seemed dead when compared with the trees growing near them. We revisited these unusual trees today (13 April 2025), and they looked wonderful in the morning sunshine.

It does not take long to see that these trees have unusual features. Two of them have unwieldy granite boulders lodged in their branches. The third tree looks as if it has been split open by, for example. a lightning strike. Parts of the wood of this tree have been painted gold. Though in some respects these three tall objects look like trees, one realises quickly that they are not trees but artworks.

Created by the Italian artist Giuseppe Penone (born 1947), they are part of an exhibition of his works, most of which are housed within the Serpentine South Gallery. Penone was a leading artist in an Italian artistic movement known as ‘Arte Povera’, which focussed on exploiting the simplicity of natural materials with artistic techniques. According to the Serpentine’s website, Penone said of his exhibition:

“All of my work is a trial to express my adherence and belonging to nature, and it is with this thought that I have chosen the works for the exhibition. The two paths that I have created—inside the gallery and outside of it, in the park—become two integrated gardens.”

The three tree-like sculptures both impressed and intrigued me. I have yet to see the works inside the gallery, but there is still plenty of time to view them as the exhibition continues until 7 September 2025.

Knife Edge outside the Houses of Parliament

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THERE ARE MANY sculptures by Henry Moore (1898-1986) in London’s public spaces (see: https://londonist.com/london/art-and-photography/where-to-find-henry-moore-sculptures-in-london). One of them, “Knife Edge Two Piece”, can be seen on College Green, opposite the Houses of Parliament.  Consisting of two huge pieces of bronze, this was created by Moore between 1962 and 1965. Its form was inspired by a fragment of animal bone, as are many of his other sculptures. When we visited Moore’s home in Perry Green (Hertfordshire), we saw display cases filled with bits of bone the artist had collected over the years,

The sculpture outside the Houses of Parliament is one of three casts of the same work. The other two are in Canada and the USA. Moore donated the sculpture that stands in Westminster, to the Nation in 1967.  In 2011, it became part of the Parliamentary Art Collection. It is now a listed object. It is one of only 41 post-WW2 sculptures in Britain to have been awarded the listed status.

Henry Moore is one of the greatest of British twentieth century artists. It is fitting that his sculpture should stand amidst buildings that have played, and continue to play, important roles in the life of the country.

Who is or was the sculptor Ute Sturch?

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THIS SCULPTURE STANDING in the foyer of the ActOne cinema in Acton is labelled “The Urchin” and dated 1968. The sculptor is named Ute Sturch. I have searched the Internet for information about the sculptor, but found nothing. Does anyone have any information about the life and work of this creator?

Two sculptors: one famous and one forgotten

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DURING THE 1950S and the first half of the 1960s, my mother, Helen Yamey, created sculptures in the sculpture workshops of St Martins School of Art, which was then located on Charing Cross Road. Although my mother was not a student at St Martins, she worked alongside one of the school’s teachers of sculpture, the noted sculptor Anthony Caro (1924-2013). Caro became famous for his metal sculptures that consist of pieces of metal either welded or bolted together. While my mother was making sculptures at St Martins, she like other sculptors including Phillip King, Tim Scott, and William Tucker, was undoubtedly influenced by, and learned from, Caro’s work. She learned welding and created several abstract sculptures that consist of pieces of steel welded together. Unlike Caro, who achieved great fame, my mother, who was unambitious and only created sculpture to fulfil a creative urge, my mother and her sculptures became forgotten.

Today, 8 March 2025, we visited the Annely Juda Fine Art Gallery in central London to see a small exhibition of sculptures by Anthony Caro. Unlike many of Caro’s works, the metal sculptures on display, are not enormous. They are small enough to be fitted comfortably into one’s living room or a small garden. Indeed, one of the sculptures, in my opinion the most attractive, has the title “Table Piece CCCXLI”. It was constructed in oxidised steel. The five Caro pieces in the exhibition display a variety of compositional style, and together demonstrate the artist’s versatility. They were all made between 1970 and 1990. My mother left St Martins before this period, sometime in the mid-1960s. I know that she maintained an interest in Caro’s output, but. Sadly, I cannot recall what she thought of its quality.

The exhibition at Annely Juda continues until 15 March 2025. You can read about my mother’s life in art and her time at St Martins in my book “Remembering Helen: My Mother the Artist” [ available from Amazon, e.g.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/REMEMBERING-HELEN-MY-MOTHER-ARTIST/dp/B0DKCZ7J7X/ ]

Visible but intangible works of art at London’s Tate Modern

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SCULPTURE CAN BE APPRECIATED by enjoying the light reflected off it or passing through it, by touch, and sometimes by sounds it makes. Today, at London’s Tate Modern gallery, I saw an exhibition of sculpture that can be seen, but cannot be touched or even heard. The exhibits were beams of light projected onto screens through a room filled with the sort of smoke used in theatres to create haziness. All these exhibits were created by the British artist Anthony McCall, who was born in 1946.

The projected light creates often changing patterns on broad screens. What makes the exhibits really exciting is that the slowly moving smoky haze in the room allows the viewer to see the paths taken by the projected light through space. These three-dimensional envelopes of light produce interesting sculptural forms, but unlike most sculptures, the viewer can move through them unimpeded. And while moving through these space-filling light formations, the viewer modifies their shapes and what is projected onto the screens. The results are both intriguing and beautiful, apart from being quite unusual. Words cannot adequately describe what we saw at this show. You need to experience it for yourself to enjoy this intangible but intensely visual sculptural show, which is continuing until 27 April 2025.