 |
Peter W Nicholas
Art teacher Tom Davies at Ebbw Vale County Grammar
School - Ethic-
"Never use books to inform your art, always study the original work,
wherever possible" 1949. I was 15 years of age.
This axiom and an inadequacy with the written word has
always since created an ambivalance, admitting academic influences. My
primary approach is still to heed Tom's words whilst covertly inventing
my own academic references.
The academic sculptor has many avenues in which to find his creative generator.
The public and private commission is still the most obvious, but of course
the client has to be served and over time can adversely affect ones personal
development. To combat this I have pursued a number of recurrent themes
or story lines, some of which have historical origins. - One such is the
disaster of Pompeii.
The archeological method of discovering the Pompeii figures is in itself
a fascinating study, but from the perspective of a direct carver in stone,
releasing the single image locked inside the block, by reducing the mass,
is similar but so different to releasing the figures already formed but
invisible, sealed within the Vesuvius ashes.
These figures have never been seen in their solid
reality, my information has been gleaned from books.
I have invented an academic association.
'Crux 2' - Relief
'Queensway Project'
'Adam'
'Sleep'
'Horse and Rider' (Maquette)
'Queensway' (Maquette)
'Queensway - Drawing'
'Crux 1'