At present we have the brilliant Welsh based abstract stone
figure carver Matthew Billington. Working amidst the historic
stones of Wales he is certainly inspired by the ancient carvers
but also brings fluidity into his abstract figure sculpture that
suggests his figures were frozen 'mid-morph' in
molten stone. Both Easter Island and Dali spring to my mind
when I experience his abstract figure sculpture. The cool,
dark Welsh slate he mostly uses, smoothed like ice,
lends a power to his pieces that is compelling...
and compells you to touch...
When I asked Matthew what he was looking for in his heads and
figures he replied slowly and very deliberately...
"Pure expression of the soul made manifest in stone"
Matthew works from a sense of what he wants to express in his
sculpture rather than a plan or maquette set in stone. This allows
his figurative abstracts to flow from the stone, evolving around
his original concept and enrichening it as he scupts. He works
at remarkable speed for a stone carver and you can almost watch
his conceptual understanding of the abstract he is sculpting deepen
as he works; with new details around the original idea being discovered
along the way.
