Lawrence Dicks’ sculpture is organic and rhythmic, drawing inspiration from natural phenomena and patterns.
He enjoys the physicality that working with sculpture demands and knew from early in his artistic practice that sculpture would be his medium of choice. Lawrence Dicks believes that sculptures, as with paintings, can communicate concepts in a way that words cannot.
These are not shapes that are easy to scan; Lawrence Dicks' intention is to make the viewer pause, take a closer look and engage on a deeper level. He is interested in the human condition, and what it means to be or to feel alive, and encourages the subjectivity in the responses different viewers will have to his sculpture.
In some works Lawrence Dicks investigates and represents cellular structure, slowly exagerating by deconstructing the repeating patterns into strange, tactile yet somehow simple objects. This has been an ongoing theme in his work since the beginning.
There is fluid repetition in Lawrence Dicks’ sculptures setting off a rhythm which flows between all works and connects them as a whole.
He says “My work is informed by observations of day to day life, the people I meet and things I sees on my daily walks”.
The rhythm of the tide is there together with the eroded effect that sea and time have on rocks - rounding, hollowing and pitting surfaces. This is not surprising, as a daily walk to a nearby beach must subconsciously filter through, although his work is not necessarily about that.
There is rhythm and repetition too in the process of making: When a weighty hammer repeatedly hits a chisel, making the same surface marks again and again, very slowly a form a form is revealed with surfaces of concave or convex undulations and textures. This is the recognisable visual language that Lawrence has established, his artful hand writing.
The stone Lawrence most commonly works with is Portland stone quarried on the South coast or alternatively Northern French limestone. In the past he has worked with clay to create macquettes or studies for larger works. He says “Every piece always leads on to the next” there is a narrative that flows through his work.
Lawrence Dicks graduated in 1998 from Plymouth University (Exeter School of Art and Design), and has exhibited throughout the UK. His work is in both private and public collections. He has been a professional artist for 25 years, and moved to Sussex soon after graduating.
Zimmer Stewart Gallery will exhibit a selection of sculptures by Lawrence Dicks at the Mill Studio, in Ford, from 2-23 November.
See our Exhibitions page, available works shown below or contact us with any questions.
Marchmont House and patron, Hugo Burge
The sculpture, ‘Inward’, has been cast in bronze from an original stone sculpture, which is in a private collection at Marchmont House, Scotland, so too is an enlarged bronze cast from the same piece which stands in the grounds.
The large ‘Inward’ is over 1.5 meters across and is placed next to a scorched wood piece by David Nash in the grounds of Marchmont House.
The late Hugo Burge of Marchmont House was an avid collector of Lawrence Dicks’ works, and would come to the studio in Sussex where he loved everything and often wanted to buy everything too. There are fifteen pieces both large and small in Hugo Burge’s collection, including a large version of Breath I, in yellow. He had already purchased Breath I-V in the smaller sizes. These were patinated in either black or verdigris, but for the large version Hugo Burge opted for the same yellow that he had seen at some road works.
Hugo Burge was an entreprepreneur and investor in the travel business, he acquired Marchmont House in 2007; the house and grounds were renovated and there he set up Marchmont Ventures in 2018 to support the arts. Then in 2019 he set up the Marchmont Makers Foundation, to provide residencies as well as support local schools and charities.
Current Works by Lawrence Dicks
Inward (2019), cast bronze, 37 x 28 x 36 cm, edition of 5.
This concave undulations represent an intake of breath, as the body contracts or sucks in.
Lawrence Dicks also sees this as an introspective piece
Hag II (2023), Portland stone, 35 x 22 x 21 cm.
There were three in this series of works inspired by the artist seeing the mythical hag stones on the beach at Climping.
Hag stones, also know as adder stones, are believed to have magical properties and to be able to mysteriously ward off witches and other ne’er-do-wells.
These are the stones we all see on the beach with a water worn hole in the middle.
The folklore states that only good things can pass through a hole, so while good fortune and good wishes will find you through a hag stone, bad luck and evil thoughts are too big to be able to pass through the hole and become stuck in the middle. This belief may be bolstered by the centuries’ old belief that magic cannot work on moving water.
So, since the hole in a hag stone was created by moving water, it works as a sort of ‘shield’ against spells and the like.
Out of Mind (date), reclaimed stone, 38 x 19 x 17 cm.
This piece was carved from a piece reclaimed from the old Broadmoor Hopsital, originally known as Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylam when it was opened in 1863 as the country’s first asylam for the criminally insane. In 2013-17 there was a refurbishment of the buildings to create a new state-of-the-art hospital, which opened in 2019.
This history of the former Asylum resonated with Lawrence. As he worked on this piece he thought about the people who were incarcerated at Broadmoor in late Victorian times, and their lives there.
Breath II (2020), cast bronze on an oak base, 29 x 19 x 18 cm, edition of 7
Breath III (2020), cast bronze on an oak base, 29 x 18 x 14 cm, edition of 7
The Breath series of five sculptures a re inspired by Lawrence reimagining his breath on a cold day walking on Climping beach.
This series arose out of a conversation with Hugo Burge (see above) when he was looking for a large sculpture for the back of Marchmont House.
Lawrence created some sketches, Hugo Burge liked them and immediately commissioned the five smaller works and then a large version of Breath I.
Heart II, Charred English Oak, Unique, 24 × 22 × 19 cm
This piece represents the heart of the oak tree from which it came and resonates with Inward (see above).
Until Now (2020), Portland stone, 28 x 18 x 45 cm
No Recollection (2020), Portland stone on an oak base, 40 x 32 x 38 cm
‘Until Now’ and ‘No Recollection’ were both made in 2020 over the period of the
Covid pandemic.
Lawrence Dicks says “I made a body of work which became sort of a reflection of what was going on in the world and a country in lockdown. My studio became more than ever a place of repetitive activity. I would spend a few hours walking over the field and down to the beach concentrating on breathing, walking day after day, week after week. The sculpture became a process of repetition and rhythm. Each mark would take between 30 to 40 blows of the mallet, I’d work over the surface of the stone creating a pitted undulating surface. The work was repetitive and, in a way, meditative. Hours, days and weeks passed, and the works emerged. The works also reflected the erosion of Climping beach, a short walk from my home and studio.”
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