WORK OF THE WEEK: Bill Woodrow, Clockswarm, 2001

Bill Woodrow
Clockswarm, 2001
Bronze and Gold leaf
23 x 34.3 x 10 cm
9 x 1ft 1 ½ x 4 in.
Edition of 8

On a beekeeping course in the late 1990s, Bill Woodrow experienced a swarm of bees encasing his hand, rather than causing him harm, the bees offered a warm, soft and sensual feeling. This experience and course gave Woodrow insight into the workings of this small community, who think and move as one. His immersion in these creatures and his skill and ingenuity as an artist led to the production of sculptures that seemingly comprise a swarm of bees encroaching an inanimate object. Of these, Clockswarm presents a mantel clock covered by a swarm of bees. To make the sculpture, the bees were individually pressed into a negative plasticine mould from which was made a plaster cast. This positive plaster form was then used to make a final bronze cast. The sculpture was then gold leafed over a black patina. This acute attention to detail creates an impressive sculpture that seems to be alive with energy.

Bill Woodrow emerged as a pivotal figure in a new generation of British sculptors in the early 1980s. Not having a massive budget with which to buy materials, it was during this time that Woodrow would collect discarded or waste objects, such as old washing machines, car parts, cutlery or scrap metal. He then cut into and manipulated these into inventive sculptures with often illusive meanings, placing the onus of interpretation on the viewer. The work produced at this time, such as Twin Tub with Guitar has been exhibited all over the world, and were central to his major retrospective of his work held at the Royal Academy of Arts at the end of 2013.

Solo shows of his work have been hosted at Sabine Wachters Fine Arts, Knokke, Belgium, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Canada, Tate Britain and Tate Modern, London, Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, Germany and the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, amongst other places. His work is held in numerous public and private collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA, Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal and the Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Netherlands.