"Primavera" - Spring is in the air

The first of this series of four sculptures, each representing a season of the year as a female torso morphing into a plant form, is also now available for 2009 in more affordable stone-composite as well as a limited edition bronze.

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Spring or "Primavera" is represented by a slim female torso emerging like a snowdrop from the depths of winter. The petals around her head open to reveal her face mask slowly taking form as do the protective arms around her upper torso.

The original for this sculpture was carved in dark grey Kilkenny Limestone from which the limited edition of only 6 bronzes was cast. This new version is cast solid in Jesmonite composite mixed with a blend of stone aggregates to give the look and feel of polished, buff-coloured limestone. Because all the work is done by myself in the studio I am able to ensure that the accuracy and finish of each cast is true to the carved stone original.

The contrast of textures, very much a signature aspect of my work, accentuates the sensuality of the smooth forms which are dramatised by the light.

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The sculpture, which stands 73 cm. tall, is available direct from my studio as one of a limited edition of 100, mounted on a round base of Jesmonite with a dark grey granite finish.

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The Prezzo restaurant chain has now installed one of this edition of Primavera, which they comissioned last year for one of their newest outlets in Camberley, Surrey.

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Both images © Gordon Aitcheson 2009

Jackson Pollock lives....

... again, at least on the Apple iPhone/iPod Touch. I've just downloaded the "Jackson Pollock" program or App as it is known in Apple land onto my iPod Touch and I am already very taken by its creative possibilities.

The program allows use to create your own drip paintings in true Jackson Pollock style using your finger(s) as brushes on the screen. If you dwell too long the paints pools and runs and you can create very gestural marks depending on the speed and weight of your touch as evidenced by this early attempt on your left. You can save your efforts as you go and continue to work over your work using a random palette or a selection of colour-keyed palettes.

It has been well received by the Apple iPhone/Ipod Touch community although some commments by users on the iStore web-site have requested an 'undo' facility. I think that runs rather counter to the whole philosophy behind Jackson Pollock's drip painting process. He couldn't lift the drips and splodges off his own canvases. He had to accept the marks he made and respond to them with more layers on top. So I hope that this is a suggestion which the program's creator, Milton Manetas, decides to reject.

I am still messing about with this brilliant program on my Ipod and hope to post some of my creations in the coming weeks.

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Image © Gordon Aitcheson 2009

At the Feet of the Master

When in London I often visit the top floor of the Royal Academy just to see the Taddei Tondo, a four feet diameter circular marble relief by Michelangelo, the only piece of his sculpture in the UK. Missed by many visitors to the temporary exhibitions at the RA it is beautifully lit in a recess at the end of the Sackler Wing, furthest from the lift. I feel so privileged to be able to study the sculpture at such close quarters and generally quite uninterrupted, save for the lost souls looking for somewhere where they can furtively use their mobile phones.

Like many of Michelangelo's works the Taddei Tondo is unfinished and the tool marks reveal much about how he was approaching the piece, a bit like being able to see the underdrawing of a great painting. You can see where he is still roughing out with the point, modelling the forms with the claw and then refining the forms of the finished passages as was his working method. I always come away reinvigorated, inspired by Michelangelo’s energy, ambition and craftmanship and return to my studio the next day, eager to pick up my tools and address the block of stone on the carving stand.

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