Bowman Sculpture is delighted to present a solo exhibition of new works by Emily Young, widely regarded as Britain’s greatest contemporary stone sculptor. The exhibition will include a new series of heads, discs, and torsos carved from stone and rarely seen bronze works.
On view November 17 through January 11, 2018 at Bowman Sculpture will be the incredible sculptures by Emily Young. “Young is recognized for her sculptures and public artworks that investigate the relationships between the ancient world and our own; humankind and the natural world; and an artwork and its origins,” the gallery writes. “She continues to explore a connection between time, land, and cultures through her deeply personal approach to sculpture. Her work is a direct manifestation of the human consciousness, allowing her to carve, for example, a human face directly onto a piece of stone which in turn marks her relationship to nature. Through a profound engagement with each individual stone’s geological history and its geographical source, Young forms a personal dialogue with the past and the future.
“Young’s studio in Tuscany is situated in a 17th-century monastery located between the Ligurian Sea and Mount Amiata, a mountainous volcanic area inland, the area is rich in natural, cultural, and historic significance. She sources her materials locally in Italy and across the world. Young demonstrates the extraordinary qualities of stone, allowing the material to convey profound messages about life, time, and the universe.
“For this exhibition, the artist has carved works from stones ranging from Indian Forest Green marble, white onyx, Rouge de Vitrolles, Quartzite and Dolomitic limestone, among others. A rich variety of attributes characterize each type of stone and therefore each work. Agate, for example, is characterized by its fineness of grain and brightness of color whereas Kilkenny marble is a fine-grained Carboniferous limestone that contains fossils thus revealing the preserved traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the distant past.
“The artist’s approach is to ‘work with the stone,’ allowing the material to reveal its inherent beauty. Young arrives at the finished work through a process of carving that guides the artist according to the unique character and traits of the material.”
The artist added, “The grace, power, and pleasure that the natural world can show us is what drives the making of these pieces. The human form, the most complex of all life forms on earth, is carved out of stone, out of the same minerals, elements, atoms, and molecules that have always made up our physical universe.”
She continues, “Throughout my working life as an artist, the connections, or lack of them, between humankind and the astonishingly rare and precious natural world has been the predominant story. Really, it’s the only story now, the biggest story of all time for humanity.”
To learn more, visit Bowman Sculpture.
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