James Lee Byars at YSP
(image courtesy Jonty Wilde)
Yorkshire Sculpture Park opens a fifth exhibition space this autumn, converting a Georgian chapel into a contemporary sculpture gallery
An installation of work by American artist James Lee Byars (1932-1997) launches the new gallery in St Bartholomew’s Chapel (on show until 29 November). The elegantly proportioned building (now deconsecrated) was built in the 18th century by Sir William Wentworth. Its plain whitewashed walls and tall windows make it a great space for showing sculpture as Byars’ beautiful, meditative installation here shows. Called The Angel, it consists of 125 spheres of hand-blown glass, each one carefully arranged on the floor in a series of flowing patterns. Together the separate curving lines of glass make up the Japanese Kanji character for ‘angel’. The quality of the natural light and the gentle gradations in the colour of the stone floor gently enhance this subtle, elegant installation.
More work by Byars is on show in the Bothy Gallery. Look out here for The Figures, a group of three human-sized, uncompromisingly stark, rectangular blocks. They’re made out of gold – a material Byars used frequently as he was interested in its reputation as a divine material representing immortality.
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