
Guy Thomas creates sinuous forged steel sculptures that evoke water worn landscape, capturing the rhythm and form of places both real and poetic. He has also worked in bronze casting organic objects directly such as blackberries, brambles and poppy and cardoon heads. Combining these simple fruits of the earth with this history-laden material makes these sculptures so original and powerful.
My sculpture reflects the rhythm and form of places both real and poetic.
Steel is the material most able to express my sculptural concerns. Malleability, texture, three dimensionality, physicality, rhythm and balance. I work in a very direct exploratory way. Working with the feeling of movement i want to convey.
Cutting with oxy-propane torch, forging, twisting, bending, grinding, shaping elements. Then by a process of adding and subtracting arriving at a composition i feel is harmonious. Orchestration may best describe this process. Sometimes taking apart and completely restarting. The sculptures are finished by rusting naturally and varnishing to protect them from the elements. The small interior pieces are waxed and some are painted white.
The titles come later and are poetic in origin and have to feel completely right for the sculpture.
Sculptures by guy thomas
Credentials
Qualifications
Maidstone College of Art 1983-1984 Foundation
Bath Academy of Art 1984-1987 BA (hons) Fine Art
Herts College of Art 1989-1990 Postgraduate Diploma Art Therapy,Maidstone College of Art 1983-1984 Foundation
Bath Academy of Art 1984-1987 BA (hons) Fine Art
Herts College of Art 1989-1990 Postgraduate Diploma Art TherapyExhibitions
yes
Awards
Bath Society of Artists three dimensional prize 2009
Publications
Bronzecasting A Manual of Techniques Crowood Press 1995- Author
The Encyclopedia of Sculpting Techniques John Plowman Headline 1995
Start Sculpting John Plowman sanstone books 1995
The Art Book volume 13 issue 4 Book review John Huggins sculptor by Peter Davies,Bronzecasting A Manual of Techniques Crowood Press 1995- Author
The Encyclopedia of Sculpting Techniques John Plowman Headline 1995
Start Sculpting John Plowman sanstone books 1995
The Art Book volume 13 issue 4 Book review John Huggins sculptor by Peter Davies
Guy Thomas was born in Kent and studied art at Maidstone college of Art, Bath Academy of Art and completed a postgraduate diploma in Art Therapy at Herts college of Art. He has been making sculpture since 1985.
For the past ten years he has been running a studio at Stowford manor farm Wiltshire. He has been a member of Bath Society of Artists since 2004 and was chairman of the society 2010-2012. Guy has exhibited widely including the Royal Academy summer show and with the Royal British society of Sculptors London.
He is currently showing work with the Porthminster Gallery St Ives and Wine street Gallery Devizes.
Rodin
Picasso
African sculpture
Caro
Charles Hewlings my tutor at college
Tim Scott
Nature
Bronzeworks 1984-"At one point in my research i remember thinking that there was going to be a distinct lack of anything organic in the show. And then i was shown Guy Thomas`s three blackberries, cast from frozen fruit in the hedgerow. They were and indeed are very beautiful. These blackberries are made of bronze and they certainly make the fruit seem special-but it is this conjunction of this precious and history-laden material with a common wayside berry that makes the sculpture so effective. The artists normally works in steel but all his work is concerned with his response to landscape. The Cardoon, the poppy head and the blackberry are all remarkable forms, which here have been applied to the structure of an abstract sculpture. The effect is further complicated by some of what is normally regarded as the detritus of the casting process, including the `investment` which has also been incorporated. So this is the sculpture that makes us most aware not only of the possibilities but also the mechanics of casting. It is the blackberries, though, which stick in the mind. Fenella Crichton."
18@108 Sculptors on Sculpture Royal British society of Sculptors 2006
"Guy Thomas`s choice to incorporate organic found objects into his bronze forms-such as poppies, pine cones and brambles reflects the natural wonders of in art."
RWA 154th autumn exhibition- Guy Thomas Pondlife steel
"The sculptor has obviously tipped his hat in the direction of Sir Anthony Caro, but the piece has strength and integrity in it`s own right."
3+1 Walcot chapel Bath 2012-
"I responded to the quality of line in this work"
Matthew collins
"Guy Thomas uses the material of industry - steel - to fix the forces of nature. Thomas orchestrates the dynamic fluidity of landscape and seascape, but the organic force has become unyielding metal. The forces of nature crash into Thomas`s work."
Stephen Clarke 2012
