Battersea Spring: The Sculpture Guide
With so much to see and do at our Battersea spring fair (9 - 12 March), we know it can be a challenge to squeeze everything in. That’s why we’ll be bringing you our curated Route Guides to help you plan your visit! Here's one for the Sculpture lovers.
Katie Bone
Tuesday 28 February, 2023
Sculpture is arguably one of the most celebrated forms of art historically! By definition, it’s a three-dimensional art form that’s been used throughout history as an expression of ritual, religion, and culture. Since the beginning of Ancient Greece, when sculpture was used to pay tribute to the gods, sculpture has evolved into an incredibly diverse art form. Today, modern and contemporary sculpture can be figurative, abstract, and even experimental, and is created using a diverse range of methods including modelling, carving, casting, and assemblage – all of which you will find at Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Spring! So if you’re on the hunt for sculpture this spring, our whistle-stop Sculpture Guide is for you. Let’s go!
1. The Sculpture Display
You don’t need to walk very far to begin our Sculpture Guide. At the entrance to the fair, you’ll discover three sculptures assuming their own individual sense of dominance and beauty.
Victoria Atkinson focuses on posture through sculpture, reducing her figures to their bare essentials using just clay and plaster. Look at ‘Aurora’ – a stripped back figure, which is so still and yet summons so much power. Likewise, Iain Nuttin’s ‘Red Kite on the Wing’ is vision of strength and beauty. He focuses on themes of conservation – both of animals and the natural environment, calling for us to protect it. The third sculpture is ‘Vishneva’ by Guillermo Monroy, a Mexican-born artist who draws on his cultural roots to invigorate his process. Monroy chooses to work mainly with musical instruments, wood and metal since these materials have an intrinsic natural beauty and a strong connection to the earth.
2. Mayne Gallery, Stand A4
Now enter the fair and visit Mayne Gallery (A4) for stunning sculptures by critically acclaimed artist and figurative feminist Pauline Amos. Inspired by the work of Kandinsky and Schoenberg – artists esteemed for their harmonious depictions of the intersections between art and music – Amos explores the interplay between performance, art and music.
You’ll also find brand new sculptures by former fashion illustrator turned artist Robyn Neild. Having worked as a fashion designer for 20 years on clients including Givenchy and Vivienne Westwood, Robyn now enjoys working with the human figure, considering its relationships to clothes and shapes through sculpture. This can be seen in his latest piece ‘Sun King Walking’ – a vision!
3. Beaux Arts Bath, Stand C5
Swing a right and head to Beaux Arts Bath (C5) for a range of contemporary sculpture. You’ll find works by environmental campaigner Anna Gillespie, who often uses natural materials in her work, as well as sculpture by the west country’s very own Beth Carter, whose sculptures often morphs the human figure with animals, creating extraordinary, ambiguous creatures!
4. Smithson Gallery, Stand H2
Just opposite you’ll find Smithson Gallery who will be showing sculpture by Richard Perry, a Midlands based artist using geometric language to explore weight and balance through sculpture. Perry demonstrates how sculptures can be a brilliantly successful way of grounding a space to provide a sense of calm. Take a closer look at Whirlybird – a sculpture that juxtaposes organic freeform and measured geometric shapes, which appears differently from every angle.
5. Gallery40NL, Stand I4
Now it’s time to visit Gallery40NL! Walk around the corner and you’ll see Rogan Brown’s insanely detailed paper sculptures – perhaps some of the most intricately detailed sculptures at the fair!
Brown builds his pieces from detailed observational drawings based on patterns and motifs found in nature, which he transforms into delicate relief sculptures – some sliced meticulously by hand using a scalpel, others cut using laser. His sculptures are strange, unreal, and beautiful. Rogan transforms the real into the surreal.
6. Lucinda Dalton, Stand L2
Last up for the Sculpture Guide is Lucinda Dalton Gallery who you’ll find on the farthest side of the fair (L2), showing a series of brand new sculptures by Ben Russel. Ben’s sculptures are focused on and inspired by the surrounding Dorset countryside outside of his studio – from tree and plant route systems, to organic materials, and this time, it’s fungi! We’re so excited to get up close to these incredibly detailed, life-like sculptures.
Thanks for reading our Sculpture Guide. We hope you had fun learning about the diverse variety of sculptures on display and managed to nab a new piece for your collection!
