sculpture › Nick Turvey

Chief
2010. Corten Steel & enamel paint. 400 (l) x 135 (w) x 170 cm (h)

The timeless word ‘Chief’ aims to provoke reflections on our need for heroes, and this toppled giant, slumped in defeat, alludes to propagandist embodiments of power laid low, the pathos of the heroic body. There is something clearly skeletal about the form, which, just like historical or political reputations, appears and dissolves, depending on one’s point of view.
Chief
2010. Corten Steel & enamel paint. 400 (l) x 135 (w) x 170 cm (h)

The timeless word ‘Chief’ aims to provoke reflections on our need for heroes, and this toppled giant, slumped in defeat, alludes to propagandist embodiments of power laid low, the pathos of the heroic body. There is something clearly skeletal about the form, which, just like historical or political reputations, appears and dissolves, depending on one’s point of view.
Chief
2010. Corten Steel & enamel paint. 400 (l) x 135 (w) x 170 cm (h)

The timeless word ‘Chief’ aims to provoke reflections on our need for heroes, and this toppled giant, slumped in defeat, alludes to propagandist embodiments of power laid low, the pathos of the heroic body. There is something clearly skeletal about the form, which, just like historical or political reputations, appears and dissolves, depending on one’s point of view.
Undulatory Medium
2009. Acrylic and stainless steel. 100 x 100 x 6 cm.

Commission for St. Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospital. 19th century scientists believed the waveform of light propagated through a resonant medium called the luminiferous aether, which filled the whole of space. Despite the theory falling out of favour, when aether proved undetectable, the idea remains a potent metaphor for rendering tangible the invisible. In this wall sculpture, an array of illusory volumes is created by the surrounding matrix, embodying many different dimensions of movement, oscillation, and rotation.
Undulatory Medium
2009. Acrylic and stainless steel. 100 x 100 x 6 cm.

Commission for St. Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospital. 19th century scientists believed the waveform of light propagated through a resonant medium called the luminiferous aether, which filled the whole of space. Despite the theory falling out of favour, when aether proved undetectable, the idea remains a potent metaphor for rendering tangible the invisible. In this wall sculpture, an array of illusory volumes is created by the surrounding matrix, embodying many different dimensions of movement, oscillation, and rotation.
Surrogate
2009. Vinyl rubber. 51 x 24 x 24 cm.

The Incarnate series began with variations and elaborations of a basic undulatory form, much like musical variations on a theme. This base form is a proxy ( or idealised) human body, and the variations aim to catalogue possibilities for the human body considered as an object, both in terms of its constituent materials and their associated properties (an idea that relates to the medieval system of ‘Humours’), but also in the body’s role as a symbol or prop in fetish, myth and propaganda.
Surrogate
2009. Vinyl rubber. 51 x 24 x 24 cm.

The Incarnate series began with variations and elaborations of a basic undulatory form, much like musical variations on a theme. This base form is a proxy ( or idealised) human body, and the variations aim to catalogue possibilities for the human body considered as an object, both in terms of its constituent materials and their associated properties (an idea that relates to the medieval system of ‘Humours’), but also in the body’s role as a symbol or prop in fetish, myth and propaganda.
Nereid
2009. Plaster. 51 x 23 x 23 cm.
Nereid
2009. Plaster. 51 x 23 x 23 cm.
Nereid
2009. Plaster. 51 x 23 x 23 cm.
Massive Orange Object
2009. Polyurethane and stainless steel. 275 x 25 x 180 cm.

A giant lens creates an intense disruption of space, the object itself transformed into a phenomenon or force field, deconstructing and re-ordering perception.

Commissioned by Lambeth Arts and Mount Anvil. Permanently installed outside the old South Bank University in London. The address is 345 Wandsworth Road, London SW8, next to the junction with Lansdowne Way.
Massive Orange Object
2009. Polyurethane and stainless steel. 275 x 25 x 180 cm.

A giant lens creates an intense disruption of space, the object itself transformed into a phenomenon or force field, deconstructing and re-ordering perception.

Commissioned by Lambeth Arts and Mount Anvil. Permanently installed outside the old South Bank University in London. The address is 345 Wandsworth Road, London SW8, next to the junction with Lansdowne Way.
Massive Orange Object
2009. Polyurethane and stainless steel. 275 x 25 x 180 cm.

Commission for Mount Anvil, London. A giant lens creates an intense disruption of space, the object itself transformed into a phenomenon or force field, deconstructing and re-ordering perception.
Massive Orange Object
2009. Polyurethane and stainless steel. 275 x 25 x 180 cm.

A giant lens creates an intense disruption of space, the object itself transformed into a phenomenon or force field, deconstructing and re-ordering perception.

Commissioned by Lambeth Arts and Mount Anvil. Permanently installed outside the old South Bank University in London. The address is 345 Wandsworth Road, London SW8, next to the junction with Lansdowne Way.
SpinState
2008. Acrylic & stainless steel. 73 x 73 x 10 cm.
SpinState
2008. Acrylic & stainless steel. 73 x 73 x 10 cm.
Some Things Occur by Necessity
2007. Lead Crystal. 30 x 26 cm.
Glass has been intimately entangled with the development of scientific thinking, from the alembics of the alchemists to the instruments of Hooke and Galileo. Here, the medium and process of working with hot glass has been used as a plastic, polydimensional algebra, a cloud chamber of tracks and traces frozen in massive thicknesses that bend light like gravity.