DAILY MAGAZINE
BLOG ON WITH NEWS, VIEWS, REVIEWS, DIARIES, EVENTS & PHOTO-JOURNALS

Adam Burge, 'Falling away rom the Perfect'

'This proposal for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize 2006 is about sculpture's enduring relationship with the man-made and manicured landscape of the country house. My sculpture comments upon the invented and idealised English countryside, an environment epitomised by the nineteenth century gardens and grounds at Ragley Hall. Sculptures, especially figurative sculptures, have populated those spaces which form a border between the garden and the countryside denoting the limits of an estate or private property. As monuments, symbols or guardians, they are embedded in our collective imagination: silent, static watchmen in a shifting, time bound landscape. Drawing upon Diego Velazquez de Silva's Mars, Dieu de la Guerre of 1640, I propose to make an already forgotten statue to reside, derelict and anonymous, in an overgrown corner of the gardens. The form will resemble a statue in decay, a sculpture in old age or something that is being rediscovered again after many years. '

Dallas Collins, 'Sweet'

'The main idea behind this sculpture was fragility. I based its form on an Indian sweet making mould - a small gift that sat in a cabinet in my front room - and used this as a starting point for the main body of the sculpture. The relationship between the strong, protective mould, which in turn holds a fragile and delicate shape within, was the main attraction. I feel this form has a message within its structure as a vessel or seed. This sculpture would hold the creative spark, taking strength from its historical, material form, to convey an outlook of the future for innovation, strength and hope.'

Graham Guy Robinson, 'Barrier Fence'

'Sheet material has always held a fascination for me. The barrier fence form is a natural extension of this, what is happening at each side, at the middle and ends, at the edge. Temporary barrier fencing is a familiar object in our landscape, its visual strength powerful beyond its materiality. It fascinates me on many levels: as nomadic and reusable, repositionable, as a barrier whose material structure is weak; you can easily push it down, but we recognise and observe its potency as a boundary despite its material frailty. In a way I wanted to realign, reassemble these relationships. Change the material from plastic to polished stainless steel which is virtually indestructible so on one level timeless, monumental, whilst the landscape, almost cinematic is played out, reflected on its surface; constantly changing and shifting. The fence is fixed, pinned to the ground; like stone carved in a baroque sculpture folds into cascading fabric, caught but at the same time moving, barrier fence is 'caught' folded as in a gust of wind, taken, in one sense, out of time.'

Graham Seaton, 'Composite'

'My work is concerned with transformations of space and materials, and pursues a long established interest in found objects; more recently I have explored direct references to forms of architecture and urban landscapes. By considering the nature of these objects I question the way we visually perceive them, presenting them in new and suggestive ways. This is achieved by employing basic casting processes and/or presenting objects in predetermined arrangements and context which serve to transform their identity and function. These processes have the effect of creating space, which serves to distort the viewer's conventional sense of scale and questions perceptions of reality.'

Graham Seaton graduated in 2000 with an MA Site Specific Sculpture from Wimbledon School of Art.

Jonathan Parsons, 'Terminator'

'Terminator continues my established practice of making 'dissected' map sculptures. The source is the 'intercity' rail map from 1991. The outline of the routes from this map has been extracted and re-drawn to form a cut out 'picture'. This serves as a template for the physical cutting of the shape from sheet metal. The thickness of the sheet has the effect of making the final cut out function as an extrusion of the drawing. The cut out shape is then hand curved, coated black and presented as a self-supporting sculpture, with a change to the map's original orientation. The convention of placing north uppermost has been dispensed with and the sculpture stands on three 'lines' that were previously 'at the top'. The stations and text have also been omitted. By interfering with these important conventional details, the map's original utilitarian function has been denied and its shapes have been transformed into something more pictorial. It is a sort of hybrid; an 'image-object'.'

Jonathan Parsons graduated in 1999 from University of London Goldsmiths' College. In 2005 he had a solo show at Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles, and his work was part of a group show at Studio 1.1 in London earlier this year.

Juliet Haysom, 'Spring'

'I have had a long-standing interest in the process of appearance, particularly in making use of the invisible qualities of a place and atmosphere. On a recent trip to Rome I was struck once again by the city's many fountains built to celebrate its subterranean water resource, and I returned to considering the sculptural use of water. Rather than construct something large and solid out of stone or metal, I propose drilling a borehole into the aquifer below Ragley Hall park in order to create an ephemeral sculptural form made of water vapour. Spring's form and appearance would vary depending on weather and light conditions, but the reliable water source would mean that it would remain a permanent feature of the park.'

Juliet Haysom graduated in 2004 with an MPhil Sculpture and Drawing from the Royal College of Art, London. She will be showing work at Image Furini Arte Contemporanea, Arezzo, Italy, this year. She was shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2005.

Nathaniel Rackowe, 'Running Light'

'In a forest clearing, or shady area, the viewer catches sight of a hard edged structure, and a suggestion of light. On approaching the work, the viewer sees three free standing slabs of concrete, with a series of faint grooves running vertically down each side. A bright white line of light seems to move across the surface, sometimes slowing, then speeding up, multiplying, and separating, converging and then dissipating. Then on closer inspection our viewer sees that in fact the line itself is not moving, but is many lines, lit in turn, to create a physical animation, real light, but the illusion on movement. This visitor then walks into the work, where the proximity of the slabs leaves less natural light, and intensifies the effect of the strip of artificial light moving around them. The openings at each end of the work frame a section of forest that seems at once linked and at odds with the structural and geometric assembly surrounding the viewer.'

Nathaniel Rackowe graduated from London's Slade School of Fine Art in 2001. Forthcoming projects include a solo show at Bischoff/Weiss in London in September, a solo installation at the Economist Plaza, London, and a public installation in Lima, Peru.

William Clifford, 'Home'

'The artwork I create is site relative, offering an intuitive response to an environment, drawing attention to, and creating an awareness of, the surrounding space. home is intended to offer a direct response to the environment and the architecture/furniture of a landscaped garden belonging to an English stately home, such as Ragley Hall, by drawing a parallel with garden follies and estate buildings such as barns and workers cottages. By modelling home on a working class back to back terrace house the intention is to create a counter point to the grandeur and scale of Ragley Hall and offer a departure point from which to explore the social context and class stereo types these two building represent. '

William Clifford graduated from Wimbledon School of Art in 2000 with a BA in Fine Art Sculpture. In 2005 he created a site-specific sculpture installed in Christchurch Park as part of Ip-Art Festival '05.