A sequence of sculptures founded in concepts of time, entropy and the temporal illusion of equilibrium and permanence. They describe continuity and discontinuity; integration and disintegration; location and dislocation; sections and intersections.

Represented here as preliminary models these forms are mostly without a pre-conceived scale but intended to be relatable as “table-top” castings, monumental sculptures and, in some cases, architectural designs.

The Momentary Possibility of Balance

These structures were first assembled without any additional mechanical fixing between the various elements or between the elements and a base in order that they find their natural balance and stability; their settled position.

The following forms might be viewed as inversions of the preceding sculptures; the spaces or volumes left when the solid elements have been extracted. They might also be seen as the collapsing and disintegrating shafts and adits of Cornwall’s abandoned copper and tin mines.

**In the western tradition the term “negative space” is used to describe the the empty space around the subject of an image. Here the Japanese term or philosophical concept Ma** (間)* is arguably more applicable; the focus being on the intention of empty space as a positive entity, a balancing element; as representing an inwardness.

* both ma (interval, space) and ken (unit of architectural measurement) are written with the Chinese character 間 derived from 門 ("door") and 日 ("sun"). Originally, the character 間 was written with the radical for "moon" (月) instead of the character for "sun" (日), and, in this form (閒, xián), depicted, according to Bernhard Karlgren [Swedish sinologist and linguist. 1889-1978], "A door through the crevice of which the moonshine peeps in".

“Phonic Sections”

Deconstructed and reassembled square cones.

Cones (conic sections) are not only important forms in Euclidian geometry but they also possess particular acoustic properties.

“Stratification”

This sequence of sculptures emerge from the near vertical rock strata exposed in the cliffs of North Cornwall and the imperceptibly toppling menhirs* , the monolithic sentinels, of the county’s high moors. Although slender in profile these forms are constructed to exhibit an apparent depth when viewed from the front or back [here the terms front, back and profile are not hard and fast rules merely convenient nomenclature]. The use of sheets of Corten Steel or Bronze to create this illusion is motivated by the same pursuit of perspective as the application of multiple layers of pigment on the surface of a painting. This almost 2-dimensional illusion of perspective is an invitation to look into and beyond.

* Standing stones, orthostats and liths erected by neolithic peoples, certainly in the early to middle Bronze Age but perhaps long before. Their purpose or meaning is amongst the most debated subjects in the study of European pre-history.