Bill Woodrow Sculpture

NewArtCentre selected "Rockswarm" by Bill Woodrow as Work of the Month

We have selected "Rockswarm" by Bill Woodrow as Work of the Month, which is one of a number of sculptures to have been installed recently in the Park. "Rockswarm" is from a series of sculptures inspired by the theme of beekeeping. Here, in this distinctive and bold work, individual bees have been cast in bronze and then gilded. Juxtaposed with a monolith of roughly hewn stone, this cluster of bees appears simultaneously like a solid mass and yet also fluid and flux. The intersection of the manmade with the natural world and the effects we have on the environment, have been recurring themes in Woodrow"s work since the installation pieces he made in the 1970s. Woodrow"s "Clockswarm" - in which bees create the shape of a mantelpiece clock - is also at the New Art Centre.

Bill Woodrow, along with his peers Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon and Alison Wilding, revolutionised the shapes and materials of British sculpture in the 1980s. At that time his work was made using objects found in skips and on rubbish dumps, such as fridges, washing machines and filing cabinets which were recycled and reconfigured into a variety of other everyday objects or animals. Since the late 1980s he has expanded his range of materials to include welded steel and cast bronze.

Woodrow studied at Winchester School of Art, St. Martin"s and Chelsea School of Art. Since his first solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1972 his work has been exhibited across the world. He has represented Britain at biennales in Sydney (1982), Paris (1982, 1985) and Sâo Paulo (1983). He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and his sculpture "Regardless of History" was installed on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2000. His work is currently on show in Modern British Sculpture at the Royal Academy.