Disfiguration: Sculpture from Italy by David Mackie is inspired by the art of the past – a reflection of human ideas and stories across time and cultures.

Artist Statement:

These recent works are largely inspired by the art of the past. That’s not really a deliberate choice, but after many years of looking at art, the stories and themes that resonate with me are often the ones I have found there. On one hand, there’s a mischievous pleasure in trying to put my own stamp on a historic model, but, obviously, it shows how well in tune with human experience the old masters were. The way visual art reflects our ideas of ourselves is fascinating, and that it does so across time and culture is even more so.

The endeavour then is to try to embody something of the richness of the old artworks using the materials and techniques that are most familiar to me.

I’ve always been a constructor of sculpture. A builder rather than a carver or modeller. Wood lends itself to this way of working. It permits quite a lot of scope for chopping and changing. The sculptures in this exhibition are all wood, although I also work with steel.