SALISBURY.- The New Art Centre is showing a body of work by Andrew Sabin in the Artists House. It is an appropriately domestic setting for these new sculptures, since to make them Sabin has used some surprising everyday materials – such as sugar and margarine – which he has scooped and scraped by hand to make moulds into which he then pours resin. This process appeals to the artist as it allows him to make works quickly and to experiment instinctively with shapes and forms; literally feeling his way through matter. The results are diverse, textured, brightly coloured and delightfully engaging, and because the materials he uses are readily available, the effects are really only limited by the bounds of his creativity and imagination.

For nearly twenty years Andrew Sabin has been preoccupied with either large indoor installations, such as ‘The Open Sea’, or significant public projects such as ‘Coldstones Cut’, a monumental and awardwinning work above Nidderdale in Yorkshire. This current exhibition therefore returns wider attention to Sabin’s studio-based practice, which has perhaps been overshadowed by his larger, more spectacular ventures. However, on whatever scale he chooses to work, Sabin has always maintained an interest in the fundamental qualities of matter, the possibilities and limitations of materials whether they be wood, steel or ceramic, and this interest, as Jes Fernie has noted, ‘is employed to make work which is formally, intellectually and often physically challenging’ (2003).

Andrew Sabin (b. 1958) studied at Chelsea College of Art from 1979-83, where he also taught. In 1990 he made his first installation for the Chisenhale Gallery, London and he has continued to exhibit widely. Since 1997 he has been working predominantly on public art projects, installing the 'C-bin Project' on the coast of France, the 'History Wall' in Whitstable, the 'Square-Bridge' and 'Round Bridge' for Ravensbury Park and 'The Calibrated Ramp' in Bracknell. He began working on 'The Coldstones Cut' in 2006 which went on to win the Marsh Award for Public Sculpture in 2011. In 2011 he was also commissioned to make a work on the former site of the Chelsea School of Art in Manresa Road, London.