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David English
His exhibition here in 1997, just two years after Taurus was founded, included drawings, paintings and collages. Since then David has also exhibited many of his stone sculptures, and his Haiku Perch sited in the courtyard, is part of the Taurus permanent ‘Living Art’ collection.
There are plans for the courtyard to eventually contain six different pieces of work produced from stone, wood, glass, clay, metal and resin, respectively. Each artwork will, however, incorporate living plant material as an integral part of a sculptural composition, which reflects the artist’s response to the site.
Most of David’s work, whether two-dimensional or three, starts out as a pencil drawing. David begins with a flowing, explorative sketch around the idea he has for the piece and then fine-tunes the design down to a definite layout. If it is a drawing or painting, little is changed apart from the colours and texture, but with sculpture, the piece evolves more organically as it is turned to be worked on.
The Haiku Perch, created in June 2002, was first conceived by considering what plant-life he wanted to use. A flick through his past catalogue of work reminded him of his first major installation, which incorporated 3000 cut lengths of bamboo.
The idea of using living bamboo appealed to him. The mental link he made to Japanese poetry and his admiration for the Japanese economy of form, gives strong clues to the final appearance of his finished artwork. The sculpture developed as a seat for practical reasons but the idea was extended to provide weary visitors with a place to pause, rest and take in the scene around them, and maybe lead them to some form of inspiration.
Two ancient Japanese symbols are carved into the stone, one for Earth and one for Water. David enjoys the Japanese form of poetry known as Haiku and so uses it here. A form of poetry having its own kind of seating may be a little light-hearted, and he plays with words when he calls the seat a ‘perch’, suggesting one is suspended (in thought maybe) and waiting for something. The Haiku Perch is a place to contemplate, absorb the mood of the courtyard, and hopefully find inspiration.
As a sculptor David finds great joy and satisfaction in using an indigenous stone that is both interesting to work with and is in plentiful supply. The Forest of Dean stone works for him on so many levels that it is almost tailor-made for the piece. Straight from the quarry, the stone exhibits extraordinarily rich colours (especially when wet) and lots of interesting natural shapes; and breaks naturally into forms David likes to develop further. Organic twists and even drill holes are used to great effect.
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