Our visit yesterday was more about catching up with a friend than seeing lots of amazing sculpture so here are just a few images taken along the way whilst busy chatting. Needless to say we will be returning to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park very soon!
Damien Hirst has several sculptures at the park, the most eye-catching is Virgin Mother.
At 10 metres tall it is the tallest sculpture within the park.
Hirst deliberately makes the materials look different than they are, for example The Virgin Mother is bronze painted to look like plastic.
Another of his large scale works is Charity.
A young girl wearing a calliper and cradling a teddy bear, it has a donate box asking people to ‘please give generously’. Hirst’s interpretation questions outdated ways of depicting disability and seeking charity.
Hirst’s The Hat Makes the Man is based on a 1920 collage of the same name by the Surrealist artist Max Ernst.
We were rather taken aback by Hirst’s – The Martyr – Saint Bartholomew depicts the martyred saint who was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. The figure of Saint Bartholomew and the brutal events of his martyrdom were popular subjects in Christian art history. Depictions of his flayed body allowed artists to demonstrate their mastery of human anatomy (more info).
I really liked Sean Scully’s Wall Dale Cubed:
Better known as an abstract painter, Scully’s monumental work takes inspiration from the series of paintings Wall of Light, which he began in the 1990s. Made for YSP, Wall Dale Cubed uses 1000 tonnes of Yorkshire stone from a local quarry and was constructed over many weeks.
Jaume Plensa’s Wilsis appears to be deep in thought or dreaming. Her eyes are closed and she is inward-looking and self-contained, remote from the present moment and the beauty of the surrounding scenery. Although monumental in size at over 7 metres high, this sculpture depicts a normal girl, rather than immortalising a traditionally extraordinary or powerful person. Plensa chooses to celebrate the potential in all of us, and the beauty in the everyday. It is also quite a challenge to photograph as the facial features are so delicate.
We enjoyed two exhibitions. The first was Rise by LR Vandy, created for The Weston Gallery with many works made on site at YSP.
Vandy’s work explores the textile industry’s role in Britain’s industrial history, and ongoing examination of labour, pattern, and material legacy.
I enjoyed trying to create some photographic abstractions of her work.
And finally, Time’s Scythe is a brand-new installation by British artist Nicola Turner that breathes new life into the 18th-century Chapel.
The installation was created inside the chapel using recycled wool and horsehair, which is hand-stitched inside mesh to create the work’s bulbous tendrils. Beginning outdoors, the work spills from the Chapel bell tower and enters through an upper window, before cascading over the balcony to fill the gallery space. The natural earthy smell of the wool creates a tactile, sensory experience as you walk around the flowing tentacles.
Nothing to do with sculpture but I just couldn’t resist the light on the chapel stone stairs!
