PATRICK WALLS: FIGURATIVE AND ABSTRACT

Exhibition: 29 April - 10 June 2023 | Open: Tuesday - Saturday 10.30am-5pm, free entry

PATRICK WALLS SAYS:

”I am very fortunate in my practice to have the opportunity to make site specific public art and to also have the artistic freedom to explore ideas within my own personal work.

We are delighted to welcome Patrick Walls for a gallery exhibition at the New Ashgate, Farnham.

Patrick specialises in carved stone and cast metals. He works on large scale sculpture for the public domain and makes smaller, individual sculptures to exhibit.

Patrick’s work can be either figurative or abstract but often explores two dominant themes; “air/ water” and “volume/time”.

Air / Water explores wave forms and repeated patterns, both in terms of form and surface. These sculptures can be small intimate pieces or monumental landmark sculptures. Employing fluid sweeping curves the sculptures seek to evoke a sense of movement belying the solidity and weight of the material.

Volume / Time as a body of work explores the use of stone as a material. These sculptures are dictated by the natural properties of the stone; working with the volume of the material and emphasising its natural properties, formed through many thousands of years. The surface is meticulously finished by hand to exaggerate the form.

Patrick is one of the leading sculptors creating artworks for the Brightwells Yard in Farnham. The exhibition is simultaneous to the installation of new public art by Patrick in Farnham The sculptures for Brightwells Yard in Farnham are a series of ten large-scale sandstone figures standing in the newly landscaped gardens. Each figure represents a different craft associated with the local area. They are arranged in three small groups, each group in conversation or looking out across the open space towards the other sculptures.

Other recent public art commissions include two large projects in Surrey; and The Regiment of Trees, Langley Vale Wood. The Regiment of Trees, commissioned by the Woodland Trust, are a series of twelve life-sized soldiers standing in a newly planted ‘regiment’ of trees. They commemorate the inspection of troops that took place at Epsom Downs in January 1915 by Lord Kitchener. The site is part of Langley Vale Wood, one of a series of memorial woods established by the Woodland Trust to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

Patrick has also recently installed a series of five abstract sculptures as part of the River Tees Sculpture Trail. Each of these sculptures is a direct response to its location. Ranging from the gentle slopes of a village green to an intimate wooded glade, the iconic Tees Transporter Bridge to the wide open expanses of salt marshes and the sand dunes of the South Gare, each location and each sculpture is unique.

Patrick teaches stone carving at workshops, both at his studio and around the country. To celebrate the sculptures at Brightwells Yard there will be a program of workshops in the summer supported by the Waverley Borough Council.

I enjoy working on large scale public art commissions and responding to a brief. This method of working encourages me to find new creative solutions and to expand my practice. It has led to me working both figuratively and abstractly which to me is the best of both worlds.

The public art commissions often inform the smaller more personal sculptures that I exhibit, and vice versa. I find both equally exciting.”

New Ashgate Gallery Trust Waggon Yard, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7PS 01252 713208 gallery@newashgate.org.uk