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PRESS RELEASE Steven Gregory - Skulduggery Friday 25th Nov. Sat. 28th Jan 2006 PRESS PREVIEW: Thursday 24th November 6 to 8.30 p.m Steven Gregory has many irons in the fire; seemingly effortlessly he creates art that prods and pokes, ignores and strokes and slaps and stuns us into submission. Damien Hirst, quoted from the exhibition catalogue introduction. Steven Gregory is a sculptor whose first major London exhibition comprises more than one hundred works, many of which are being seen for the first time. A regular exhibitor at The Royal Academy, Gregory has exhibited and sold extensively both in the UK and abroad. As the title Skulduggery suggests, Gregory relishes the idea of being up to no good, of looking at things with a mischievous glint in his eye. His sculptures are largely about the human condition and encourage us to look at the world around us as a surreal theatre that is all at once disturbing yet mesmerising. The show breaks new ground for Gregory with new pieces combining human bone and semi-precious stones made especially for the exhibition. Whilst death is still a Western taboo, it remains the final curtain we long to look behind and Gregory invites us to do just this employing both humour and pathos. Particularly interesting is a new series of pieces to be cast in bronze, entitled Empty Vessels and a small bronze sculpture The Glorious Dead which is a wreath made from anatomical models of human skeletons. This last piece also forms the subject of two major new drawings. Other important works includeHere and Now relating to the plight of Africa and Lights Are Out which is a meditation on the last days of his Father's life. The exhibition also includes 33 maquettes and many drawings. There will be a selection of limited edition giclee prints of some works by Gregory taken by renowned photographer Bob Elsdale. Damien Hirst, an admirer and collector of Gregory's work in recent years, has written the introduction to the exhibition catalogue which also features an interview he conducted with Steven Gregory. The Foundation's prize winning website includes 100 high resolution images which are all available for use by the press. Please visit www.sculpture.org.uk <http://www.sculpture.org.uk or call Olivia Stevens on 0207 637 0129. PRESS RELEASE - Biography Steven Gregory was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1952. He studied at St Martin's College of Art, London (1970-72), returning there to complete his BA (Hons) (1977-79). During the intervening years he was an apprentice stonemason to the company Ratty and Kett, working at Westminster Abbey and Hampton Court. He obtained City and Guilds Craft and Advanced Craft certificates in stone masonry (1975 and 1976). In 1977 he won the Worshipful Company of Masons Prize. Gregory chose this course of action because of his desire to learn how to use tools. In the early 1970s art schools in Britain devoted much time to the exploration of concepts in preference to developing craftsmanship, which Gregory found frustrating. Leicester Museum and Art Gallery purchased a sculpture from his BA exhibition at St Martin's, and at that time he was commissioned to make a work for Rio Tinto Zinc using machine tools produced by the company. Stone carving features largely in Steven Gregory's sculpture, although he has also developed ideas in bronze and other media. His intention is to make work that cannot be disregarded, which sometimes results in harrowing images of the human condition. About the Cass Sculpture Foundation The Cass Sculpture Foundation is a charitable foundation devoted to advancing twenty first century British sculpture whilst seeking to enhance the general publicís enjoyment and appreciation of the strength and quality of twenty-first century British sculpture. The key feature of the Cass Sculpture Foundation is the extent to which it empowers sculptors to take their careers to a new level. The grounds at Goodwood, West Sussex host a changing display of large-scale twenty-first century sculpture by Britain's leading contemporary artists. The Foundation's London gallery at 3+4 Percy Street shows maquettes small-scale thinking models for large-scale sculpture and changing exhibitions of work by new and established British artists. For further information on the Foundationís activities, please visit our website at www.sculpture.org.uk <http://www.sculpture.org.uk> or call 0207 637 0129. Cass Sculpture Foundation Information Centre and Gallery 3+4 Percy Street London W1T 1DF |