The Stage was inspired by several metaphors: a developing, evolving base (the rectangular solid), which endeavors to organically expand its scope and draws (paints, defines, structures) the gesture setting the venue for a performance to come; the proscenium arch, the rainbow. The sculpture was one of a group produced in 1964-1965, and included in The New Generation 65 exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

 

These works represented my progress through modeling metaphors for my perspective on being and doing as an awakening artist, and towards my fabrication of sculpture which was purer, cleaner, more “abstract”, which I viewed as geometrically based objects of meditation. They used production methods which reflected this evolving interest, including modeling and casting forms from clay into glass fiber and polyester resin, assembling these cast elements together with fabricated wood and metal components, and painting the finished assembly to create a homogeneous whole.

 

These methods were initially based on traditional sculpture modeling processes, but were expanded to include mechanically assisted techniques such as using templates to shape forms, spray painting, and using industrially finished materials like plywood and rolled aluminum sheet. 

 

I believed this moved the work away from being gestural (or hand-made), towards a more industrial (universal) idiom.

 

 

Statement by Derrick Woodham

 

24. 07. 2009