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International Sculpture Workshop, YueHu Museum, Shanghai, China

In 2011 8 sculptors were invited to make large scale work in Guilin, China, for a major international exhibition at Shanghai Sculpture Park. For this exhibition I made four bronze sculptures, researching the context of European Sculpture and its myth when transposed to a different culture, with a particular focus on where heavy material is untethered to become ethereal. The objects are juxtaposed to explore a moment in the myth where time and action are frozen. There is a conflation of practice, humour and the surreal: ‘Apollo and Daphne’ is a 4.5 metre bronze sculpture. Two bamboo ladders were lashed together, entwining the ladders and using cast bells to capture the moment when the myth is re-enacted. ‘Rope Tricks’ consists of eight bronze casts, 2 metres in height, playing with the idea of objects spinning, humorously exploring linear rhythms in space. Each base and top has a variation on a circle, recalling juggling acts. ‘Little Ship’ is a table sculpture made in clay and cast in bronze, the ship balances on a bell sailing nowhere. ‘Three Fools in a Ship’ is a large sculpture dealing with the myth of the same name. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue in which I contextualise the other exhibitors work. The underpinning research for this exhibition emerged from the Reflections (2009) book, where I review my career, practice and philosophy in an essay, entitled ‘On Drawing’. Published by Yale University Press and Making Space publishers, it also contains essays by Clare Lilley, Director of Exhibitions, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Dr Marc Wellman, Curator George Kolbe, Museum Berlin, Elio Grazioli, Italian theorist, Dr Sebastiano Barrasi, Kettles Yard, University of Cambridge and Dr Jon Wood, Henry Moore Institute.