eye.on.art

Two more weeks to visit Conflict and Collisions: New Contemporary Sculpture, at The Hepworth Wakefield, featuring three new solo exhibitions and commissions by artists Alexandra Bircken, Folkert de Jong and Toby Ziegler.
This programme of exhibitions is the first institutional UK solo show for each artist. Coinciding with WW1 commemorations, each exhibition considers themes of historical and contemporary combat and of man versus machine, with handmade and hand-finished objects opposing mechanical weaponry, state-of-the art digital technologies and 3D printing.

ALEXANDRA BIRCKEN: ESKALATION

German artist Alexandra Bircken presents a series of recent works that showcase a new approach in her practice, as well as a new site-specific commission for The Hepworth Wakefield. Her exhibition includes B.U.F.F, 2014, comprising four component works (Big, 2014; Ugly, 2014; Fat, 2014; Fellow) 2014) that collectively refer to the American B-52 bombers, used by the United States Air Force from the 1950s, as well as Mercedes gear-sticks and a leather demolition ball. Her new installation features ‘leather skins’ draped on a series of intersecting ladders, which allude to Barbara Hepworth’s iconic ‘stringed sculptures’ that can be found elsewhere in The Hepworth Wakefield.

FOLKERT DE JONG: THE HOLY LAND

Dutch artist Folkert De Jong has drawn on the collections held by the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds as a starting point for his new site-specific commission, in particular, the personal armour of Henry VIII and contemporary modern firearms. For the first time De Jong has used 3D scanning technologies in his practice, used to create bronze casts of Henry VIII’s suits of armour, contemporary weapons such as machine and hand guns. The striking installation also features an armada of bronze ships displayed in florescent display cases, as well as casts of a gramophone, an old-fashioned camera and telephone.

TOBY ZIEGLER / CHARLES SARGEANT JAGGER

British artist Toby Ziegler draws on historic and contemporary representations of war for his new commission, from the WW1 plaster memorial frieze, No Man’s Land, 1919-20 by renowned war memorial artist and Yorkshireman, Charles Sargeant Jagger (1885-1934) to the shocking present-day imagery of ‘war porn’ – trophy images posted online of war casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the first time in 20 years, Jagger’s WW1 frieze from Wakefield’s collection will be back on display, supported within a network of aluminium joists. Ziegler’s three-part sculptural composition also features a three-metre high sculpture of a human foot and a 3D printer that will produce a Newell teapot (a test-card design) within the gallery space each day.

Artists video presentations and curators essays available on The Hepworth Wakefield website.

Conflict and Collisions: New Contemporary Sculpture
Until Sunday 25 January 2015

The Hepworth Wakefield
Gallery Walk
Wakefield
WF1 5AW
T: 01924 247360

More information.