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The artisanal process of crafting objects by hand can serve as a meditative practice for those who engage in it. Often undertaken in solitude, these processes that welcome the maker to visually, aurally and tactilely engage with natural materials and tools in an immersive manner, open up the space for reflection and the opportunity to create something novel using familiar mediums. Anchoring such tactile processes, British artist Oliver Chalk chisels, shapes and crafts sculpture art objects characterised by meticulously engraved patterns.
Citing the inspiration behind his work, Chalk shares, "My practice is anchored to my need to feel deeply; a pursuit of selfhood and purpose. The process of making forces me to live in the present, in a world where our attention is too easily stolen." Comprising wood and bronze vessels, Time Spent, Chalk's latest as well as his largest collection, will be shown at the upcoming eponymously titled exhibition at Gallery57 in Arundel, the UK. On view from October 12 - November 02, 2024, this is Chalk's first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom.
As the name of the bronze and wood sculpture collection (and the art exhibition) suggests, the pieces in the series offer a tangible representation of the time spent in dialogue with both natural and man-made materials. "I'm not interested in what I can do, only what I cannot—each piece further builds upon lessons learnt and failures encountered—the works themselves becoming tokens of time spent challenging the confines of the spirit," as Chalk puts it. The vessels within Time Spent serve as tokens that celebrate the process of finding oneself through the work that we produce as well as our experiences, an objective that is sought by the artist in his larger body of work as well.
Chalk, who enrolled in an art and design institution in the southeast of England when he was 16, learned to utilise art as a medium to express himself. Over the next few years, he experimented in the realm of textile design with fabric installations and expanded his skill set by trying out new materials and processes.
Citing the next inning in his creative journey, Chalk shares, "The pandemic acted as a catalyst during which I was forced to stand still and redirect my focus, like most people, motivating a migration towards more natural and sustainable materials found within my immediate landscape. The subsequent dialogue between material and maker took hold; I found wood." This new path in Chalk's creative journey also marks the beginning of Found.Wood, a studio by the artist wherein he experiments with natural materials to make functional and collectible sculptures.
Chalk derives gratification not only from the creation of myriad sculptural art objects but also from the meditative quality of his work. "My workshop is a place of solitude. Working in complete silence creates a space for reflection and the power of bringing something to fruition from raw natural materials; believing there is great satisfaction to be found in work that engages one so deeply you're able to forget yourself," he shares.
Chalk's process of designing and making begins with sourcing the raw materials from his local area. The sculptural artist typically chooses and picks up the wood of exclusively native or naturalised species that might have fallen due to disease or storm. "The concept of removing healthy material from the landscape is not something I endorse through my work, exotics are of no interest to my practice," he states. The selection of wood is made in accordance with the attributes that the artist seeks to celebrate in his pieces. He cites ash wood as one of his favourite varieties to work with, even as Chalk laments the decline in its availability due to the Ash dieback disease, which often weakens the roots of the trees and leads to their felling.
Once Chalk takes the selected wood back to his workshop, he decides upon the shape, size and other specifications of the object he intends to sculpt, using his lathe. While most of the vessels sculpted by the sculpture artist are spherical, Chalk allows, through his process, the intrinsic attributes of the material to guide the final look, instead of predetermining the end result. This deep respect for the raw materials—and by extension, their fundamental materiality—accompanied by embossed textures, recesses and grooves chiselled on the vessels, enhance the tactileness of the objects.
When asked which of the vessels is his favourite from the collection, Chalk shares, "Of Heart and Hand is the soul of this collection. However, I have no favourites. Each piece offers something to learn from. Invariably, some pieces offer more than others." While the pieces in this collection are better united to indoor spaces, Chalk hopes to experiment with new materials and techniques in the future to sculpt objects for outdoor terrains.
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