William Turnbull

Description

Large Spade Venus, cast 1 of an edition of 4, is typical of Turnbull's work in which he combines the form of a utilitarian object with an elusive kind of figuration.

This sculpture reveals Turnbull's interest in sculpture as metamorphosis. The form comes from somewhere between one thing and another, and we are forced to view it in the way we might look at objects from the past, which, through the passage of time, have taken on the identity of a work of art. Turnbull says, 'We now no longer look at them in relationship to their utility, but for their sculptural quality, perhaps because they were sympathetically formed in the first place.'

Another of the formal aspects of Large Spade Venus is the way in which Turnbull has taken a broad form, which from one view is almost confrontational and then in profile is very narrow, almost disappearing. It is his way of twisting space, trying to make it elastic, and is a convention that can be seen in much of his work.

All the sculptures in this edition have the same green patina. Colour is important in Turnbull's work. He feels that certain materials, bronze in particular, take colour well, and the colour chosen has much to do with the emotional content of the work. 'One of the things about bronze is the way that it takes a range of colours that other metals don't.' Red, he felt, would not have been the right colour for this form.