‘David Begbie Inside Out‘
Winter 2020 - Spring 2021
ArtStyle Magazine Article
ArtStyle Magazine Article
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
’DAVID BEGBIE INSIDE OUT’
By Nicole Beatrice Malizia
Art Style Magazine / ATMOSPHERES / PrimaVera / Spring 2021
Internationally renowned sculptor David Begbie has worked almost exclusively with the human form throughout his career. Since his first pioneering solo show in London 1984 a whole new genre of steel-mesh art has emerged and continues to grow. As recently the large-scale sculpture FACET 2019 has been featured in outdoor exhibitions through summer and autumn, it is extraordinary to notice how much different is the final result between the same artwork presented in an outdoor setting and a studio/gallery setting. Because of these semi-transparent sculptures’ so volatile nature, the effect of the same piece, in different lighting and environmental conditions, both inside and out, can be striking different.
We could almost say that David Begbie “draws in air”. On looking further, you become familiar with the properties of the medium - the wire mesh creates a liveliness and sense of movement that is further enhanced by the use of shadow projection with lighting.
If we look again closely, we could see that there is not even a skin, only a graphic delineation of one. In relation to the space it occupies, the catalytic effect a Begbie sculpture has, in any setting, given that it has no palpable substance or surface, is phenomenal. David Begbie transforms a light-weight steel or bronze wire mesh spectacularly into a dynamic three-dimensional figurative form. His transparent sculptures are as much about light as it is about substance and he transforms his seemingly inanimate machined industrial material into dynamic and evocative sculptural forms:
“Most of my sculptures are made from a single rectangle of wire mesh with nothing added and nothing taken away. The material is simply transformed.”
David Begbie
By Nicole Beatrice Malizia
Art Style Magazine / ATMOSPHERES / PrimaVera / Spring 2021
Internationally renowned sculptor David Begbie has worked almost exclusively with the human form throughout his career. Since his first pioneering solo show in London 1984 a whole new genre of steel-mesh art has emerged and continues to grow. As recently the large-scale sculpture FACET 2019 has been featured in outdoor exhibitions through summer and autumn, it is extraordinary to notice how much different is the final result between the same artwork presented in an outdoor setting and a studio/gallery setting. Because of these semi-transparent sculptures’ so volatile nature, the effect of the same piece, in different lighting and environmental conditions, both inside and out, can be striking different.
We could almost say that David Begbie “draws in air”. On looking further, you become familiar with the properties of the medium - the wire mesh creates a liveliness and sense of movement that is further enhanced by the use of shadow projection with lighting.
If we look again closely, we could see that there is not even a skin, only a graphic delineation of one. In relation to the space it occupies, the catalytic effect a Begbie sculpture has, in any setting, given that it has no palpable substance or surface, is phenomenal. David Begbie transforms a light-weight steel or bronze wire mesh spectacularly into a dynamic three-dimensional figurative form. His transparent sculptures are as much about light as it is about substance and he transforms his seemingly inanimate machined industrial material into dynamic and evocative sculptural forms:
“Most of my sculptures are made from a single rectangle of wire mesh with nothing added and nothing taken away. The material is simply transformed.”
David Begbie