Robert Race automata show
Demented Ruminant
An exhibition of Robert Race’s automata and driftwood sculptures is on at Frome’s Black Swan Arts from 18 July – 14 August 2009
The selection of sculptures featured in Bring on Summer shows just how original an artist Race is. He sees the potential in the most obscure found objects and pieces of driftwood scavenged from the beach at Chiswell – for example half an old scrubbing brush is transformed into the head of an animal merely by adding two curling sticks for horns and a pair of peg-like eyes. He then adds a mechanism to move the head from side to side and, hey presto, these old bits of wood are transformed into the quirky, but clearly realised, Demented Ruminant.
Race is particularly attracted to driftwood, admiring its grain, texture and colour, but also its sense of history and the idea that it’s had a previous life. By rescuing these bits of wood from oblivion, he gives them a new life, especially when he adds a simple movement to the sculptures, so that a sliver of wood is convincingly transformed into a bird’s plumage by being made to move up and down in a pecking sort of motion. It’s a seemingly simple transformation, but the results are very clever, full of life, wit and energy.
www.blackswan.org.uk
