Artist Statement

CRYPTIC 42 is an exhibition which explores episodes from a creative journey which spans 42 years, 1982 – 2024.

The earliest sculpture from this exhibition, RELIC 1982 is a glimpse of what remains of TWO ADAMS 1982, a two-metre height skeletonal composition the toe bones of which also formed the crossmembers to a fish skeleton with head, spine and tail.

Originally exhibited as part of the UCL Slade School of Sculpture post-graduate final shows 1982. (The Slade School of Art is a stones-throw away from the Crypt Gallery on Euston Road.) TWO ADAMS is an expressive historical literary reference but the fish component refers to the origins of humanity as a species – our beginnings.

The latest most recent sculpture in the exhibition is CRYPTIC 2024 which relates to the influence that primitive tribal art has had on my sculpture, something which is not immediately obvious. All primitive art has a compelling and powerful presence exposing the profound complexity of human nature. Central to the exhibition is the juxtaposition of primitive masks opposite floating angels which speaks of the coexistence of the angel and the devil present in each of us individually, a contradiction which we can all recognise.

The main thrust of the artwork on show reveals an obsessive concern with and a celebration of the human form exposing the beauty of each gender but other exhibits reveal the profound beauty of the metallic industrial material itself. The intrinsic conceptual quality of the transparent fabric is more apparent in the simple abstract forms on show such as STREAMING and CIRRI Triptych but these qualities also exist in even the most figurative of compositions such as PHLEXII and PHLUXII where substance and form appear and disappear as the viewer navigates the sculpture.

The medium is very sensitive and expressive not only with respect to shape and form such as the Christian Dior Medallion Chair and Table, it also manifests physical, emotional, sensual, psychological, sexual and spiritual undertones much of which work on a subliminal level where the medium is at its most powerful in that it has the ability to convincingly suggest that it doesn't actually exist as a material in three-dimensional space – merely an apparition or a shadow.

Many of the sculptures on show are suspended as if floating in free space, others are freestanding on the most minimal of structural support. For the most part the sculptures are their own armature and appear almost as three-dimensional drawings – thousands of sculptural delineations describing the subject. As an artform the medium is extraordinary in that it wants to exist independently of internal or external structure or support in order to work as a visual language to its fullest potential.
It is precisely for this reason that as an artist I have spent more than 42 years attempting to avoid gravity.

With this in mind hopefully the exhibition speaks for itself.

David Begbie MRSS, 2024