LONDON.- Internationally acclaimed sculptor Jeff Lowe presents new sculpture and works on paper in his first solo exhibition at
Pangolin London.
Jeff Lowe was a student of The New Generation of British sculptors that emerged in the 1960s. Studying at the Saint Martins School of Art between 1971-75, under the esteemed tutelage of William Tucker, Philip King and Anthony Caro: Lowe inherited the New Generations experimentation of industrial materials, along with an interest in releasing the sculpture from the confines of the plinth so that it could inhabit the viewers personal space.
Born in Lancashire in 1952 Jeff Lowe came to prominence at the age of 21, whilst still a student at Saint Martins, through his first solo exhibition at the prestigious Leicester Galleries in Londons Cork Street in 1974. He then went on to represent Britain at the Paris Biennale, and his work featured in a number of important group shows at the Hayward Gallery, Arts Council, British Council, Serpentine Gallery and Ikon Gallery throughout the latter half of the 1970s.
In the 1980s Lowes works marked a departure in steel sculpture, eschewing the previous methods of welding cast bars of steel or creating assemblages of found objects he instead bought mis-cast pieces of steel that had distorted in the casting process, welding them into abstract configurations before cutting these large steel bundles into different parts.
His subsequent monumental sculpture of the 1990s more clearly reveals the artists interest in the architectural. Initially weighty works, impactful in their mass, Lowes more recent sculpture has shed its bulk to reveal its armature. These large scale works do not imply a narrative, neither fictional or mythological, nor is it rooted in a contemporaneous commentary: they are constructions and at their core remain architectural in spirit.
This exhibition aims to explore Lowes prolific and experimental output over the past four decades and its enduring integrity.
By their own weight and presence, Lowes sculptures oblige us to consider the strength of the floor or the wall that supports them, the space that surrounds them and the fall of light through windows and doors which facilitate our experience of them. ---Eric Moody
During the 1970s and 80s Lowe taught at Reading University, Canterbury College of Art, London and the advanced course at Central Saint Martins. He has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally and his work can be found many international public collections including the Arts Council of Great Britain; Contemporary Arts Society, London; The National Gallery of Australia; Vale do Lobo, Portugal; Italian Palace of Justice, Sicily and the Government Art Collection, United Kingdom.