Chadwick

British sculptor Lynn Chadwick flatly refuses to discuss the meanings, associations or possible interpretations of his distinctive metallic figures. Yet, clearly, adapting and distorting the human form is one of the most effective and provocative strategies an artist can adopt to win a response from the public. Unlike the rounded figures of certain sculptors from the generation preceding his own (with the possibly influential exception of Jacob Epstein's famous Rock Drill), Chadwick's characters are spiky, angular, abrasive and crystalline. Sometimes they recall crustaceans or insects, sometimes armored warriors or science-fiction aliens. Faces are blank facets, expressionless. Chadwick shares these qualities with other sculptors of his time, both in Britain (Armitage and Butler) and internationally (see for example Sculpture Australia, 635, Spoleto, 640). Protests at a dehumanized world? Expressions of alienation? The artist remains dourly inscrutable behind his own blank mask of a welder's visor.

For more information see section 20

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