With painting you can ‘shock the world with an apple’, you can surprise yourself on scrap of paper. Apart from the cost of the oil paint, the canvas, your studio and your time, you can be the best you can be without the restraint of upfront costs. Sculpture is a lot different.

I am courageous in my work in what I make, but as you can see in my film here, the making of a bronze artwork is a long and expensive process with serious upfront costs which require a different type of courage to embark upon, you need “Cojonas”.

I think therefore I do! So of course I made a sculpture about it. Boy with Balls (first named Cojonas) was made in Barcelona. It was about the male sculptors, their courage, their belief in themselves. Miro would make a huge coloured object and believe it was good, and believe it was good enough to spend probably thousands of pounds to cast it.

I often get a commission for the bigger pieces, then the piece becomes about the joy of making the work and the fun of the final installation in a garden or public space.

At other times you have to just ‘do what you want to do’ believe in yourself and hope others will follow and believe in you too. For my 25 year show I made a life-size Bronze piece, Red Ribbon, it was a successful and scary process and I am glad I did it, it was a great asset for the show and she is currently living in Coworth Park.

 

I have about five new pieces I would like to make over the next year, they are listed on my large sculpture page and are scaled up versions of current smaller works. I have cojonas but they are just not that big so I want these to be commissioned as a joint creation with people who want to be part of creating something new.

As a commissioner you will pay considerably less than the listed price for the first one in the edition. This reflects the support and belief you have to take that journey with me, to make a new big thing. You get a fantastic new creation in your house, garden or public space and I get to make new work that I know I am capable of.

The commissioning process goes like this.

1/3 deposit would be paid to start the work in clay, on completion of the clay I would take photos of the sculpture or you could visit the studio. At this point you can back out. It’s a joint process but I have to make work I am happy with, I can change things a little but once I had to ‘smooth over’ a sculpture for a commission and it ruined it so I would not do that again.

When you are happy with the clay stage, the next 1/3 would be paid and it would be cast, the last instalment would then be due just before delivery. The piece would be an edition and you would have the first of that edition.

I have sold nearly all the editions of my large pieces, so if ever you need to sell the work you could in theory sell it at the market rate not the commissioners rate.

It’s a fun process to be part of if you are flexible and open to interpretation as the work can change and develop when it is being scaled up. If you are super particular and want to see what you get before you commit then its best to go for something that is already made

Are you interested? Get in touch for more details.