Chain of Events in Bloomsbury

 

Walking through Bloomsbury from Holborn towards St Geoarge's church during our break in London, as we walked through Bloomsbury Square, I spotted an abstract sculpture ont he pavement outside a building. “Ah”, I thought, “that looks like something by Peter Randall-Page”. Turned out that I was right.

Peter Randall-Page is a British sculptor and I've admired his work ever since I saw a major exhibition by him at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park a few years ago. Since then we've come across works by him in public places such as Newcastle and Bristol, and we also saw a small exhibition by him in Wigan a couple of years ago (before they shut down the only public art gallery in my home town).

He has quite a distinctive style with much of his work inspired by organic forms, particularly plants, and this was an example. The sculpture was commissioned by BUPA and is situated in front of their offices in the Square. It's called 'Beneath the Skin' (1991) and was carved from Irish Kilkenny limestone, a favourite material of his, I think. The shiny, top surface has been polished by the back sides of many people, I suspect as it makes a perfect seat to sit and take a rest.

(Image from here)

Running along the low walls to either side of the entrance there was another, later work by him. A type of mosaic . This is Chain of Events (1996) created from white Portland stone inlaid in black granite.

I particularly liked this piece which I thought was very attractive. Primitive but modern.

Although I'm no fan of BUPA, it is always a pleasant surprise to stumble across an attractive artwork by a favourite contemporary artist in the street.

 

 

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