Keith Wilson
Works available
Stele I
2007
Mild steel, zote foam, PU Elastemer
459 × 57 × 6.5 cm / 15ft 3/4 × 1ft10 1/2 × 2 1/2 ins
Forest of Steles
2007
Galvanised mild steel, zote foam, PU Elastemer
Varying heights: 3.6 - 4.1 metres high / 11ft9 3/4 - 13ft5 3/8 ins
Biography
(1965–)
Keith Wilson is an artist best known for his playful interventions into the fabric of everyday life, appropriating familiar domestic or industrial objects - wardrobes, shelving, fire grates, cattle pens - often in a subtly humorous way. His recent exhibitions include Double-Blind S-Bend, Economist Plaza, London (2005); Galvanised, Milton Keynes Gallery (2004) and Cattle Market, Compton Verney (2003). His work is held in many public collections including the Contemporary Art Society; Leeds City Art Gallery and the Saatchi Collection, London.
In recent years he has made large scale galvanised steel sculptures appropriating the language of railings, street furniture and market stalls. These works are often 'performative' engaging the viewer and inviting them to interact physically with the work - leaning on it, sitting on it, or even playing around it.
The New Art Centre is currently showing two of Wilson's latest works, Stele I and Forest of Steles, both produced in 2007. Taking the form of upright pillars they make reference to prayer sticks or the grave markers found in Oriental graveyards. The artist discovered the 'stele' form through the process of rolling hot metal rods into flat 'spatulas', which brought to mind ancient Chinese stone 'steles' engraved with calligraphy. They are painted in brilliant orange, red and brown hues using an industrial Elastemer paint which gives strong, pure colour but with a soft, rubbery surface which reflects light and blurs the edges of the forms