#427 ... THEME DAY: Metal

This month's theme of "metal" should have perhaps portrayed 'corrugated iron' which is one of NZ's iconic sheet metals ... however this particular artwork by Ken Laws uses a metal which a lot of New Zealand industry was built on.

This piece is made from stainless steel which in NZ is almost synonymous with the meat,dairy,wine and food industries, from which most of our export revenue comes from. I worked for 25 years in the meat industry so have had some contact with cold, hard stainless steel ... painful and otherwise. This particular sculpture "Keeping Secrets" is matched by the gallery owner Ron who does a human mimic of this very well. ... thanks Ron for your patience.

Ken LAWS
Ken provides a quite unique form of expression by sculpting in the unusual medium of stainless steel. But despite what we might consider a hard and cold material Ken provides reflections and depth that give his totally original and eye-catching works a softer far more subtle, transient and personal feel. Ken believes it was his travel overseas and his life experiences that encouraged him to start sculpting in metal. It is the New Zealand landscape that provides the inspiration for his work, in particular, the mountains and the sea. Travelling through these areas gave him “glimpses” on which he bases his work.

The combination of a two-dimensional medium (painting) with a three dimensional medium (sculpture) gives Ken’s provides a quite unique form of expression. It enables him to experiment widely with new ideas and techniques. Stainless steel is his preferred medium as it allows him to sculpt the metal to provide reflections and depth. His skills as an artist were originally honed on the work-shop floor as a panel beater and he has used this training combined with his obvious artistic flair to produce works that are totally original and eye-catching.

Ron Epskamp has this to say about the gallery ... "As Exhibitions Gallery Of Fine Art I feel it is important to continue to maintain and grow the quality, variety and range of artworks we sell. By representing emerging artists alongside more renowned and by displaying works from representational and expressionist to abstract I feel that we often excite or challenge the viewer when they visit the gallery.”
ron@exhibitionsgallery.co.nz

THEME DAY PARTICIPANTS Click here to view thumbnails for all participants