Jon Isherwood

Description

In his search for the essence of sculpture, Jon Isherwood has turned to carving in stone as the most direct route. Passages, Origins and Circumstance - the very title propels us towards some understanding, and indicates particular ways of observing and contemplating these three sets of standing stones. Granite, one of the oldest rocks on this planet, brings with it a phenomenal history. This particular stone, grey verging on black and in places coloured red through the presence of iron oxide, was selected by Isherwood from the Pennsylvanian quarry where he often works. He felt that the three imposing blocks he chose for this work held new possibilities for sculpture. He took a long time to familiarise himself with the stones and their final orientation, and form grew from qualities over which he had no control other than choosing them - their colour, the quarry-men's marks, the surface which had resulted from an industrial rather than an artistic process.

The first cuts made by Jon Isherwood involved removing a central core from each block. He decided which forms should be opened up so that the viewer could enter, and which would be open only to the eye. He allowed the qualities of the stones - natural flaws, the grain and surface marks - to suggest where he might introduce apertures. These round holes, formal interventions compared with the original minimal markings, introduce all manner of associations: regeneration, repetition, sensuality and, for the artist, a hope that he might direct our consciousness towards the heart of the matter. At Goodwood he found the sculpture drew the landscape into its form, just as we when entering and walking within its space may also become part of it. Isherwood has made a sculpture within which physical and intellectual engagement are on an equal footing.