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Andrew Stonyer

Fellow of the Royal Society of Sculptors

Andrew Stonyer studied at Northampton School of Art, Loughborough College of Art and Design, The Architectural Association School of Architecture, and Leicester Polytechnic in collaboration with the Slade School of Fine Art. The latter period of study was marked in 1978, by being awarded his first PhD for studio-based research in Fine Art in the UK. This included the use of solar energy in the development of kinetic sculpture. He has taught, exhibited and completed commissions in Turkey, Holland, Canada and the United States of America, and his work can be found in public and private collections in all of these countries. He is currently a trustee and Chairman of the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail.

Corten Steel

Divided Prism

‘Divided Prism’ is an example of a golden section prism which has been divided and reassembled to represent the order found in things that can appear to be random. It’s made of corten steel, which is steel with added phosphorus, copper, chromium and nickel-molybdenum. These alloys increase the steel’s resistance by creating a protective patina which changes colours throughout the seasons. 

Corten Steel

Rotating Column

In the “Rotating Column”, a vertical column is divided into eight modules, each one slightly rotated above the other. The result is a vertical form where identical elements are stacked on top of one another in an apparently random sequence, which disrupts the original integrity of the column. This disruption and displacement is equated with the natural world. The piece is constructed from cut and welded corten steel, which is steel with added phosphorus, copper, chromium and nickel-molybdenum. These alloys increase the steel’s resistance to decay by creating a protective patina on the surface. 

Artist CV

The central theme in Andrew’s sculpture is a search for patterns and how these patterns can become aesthetically significant. This involves basic geometrical forms such as squares, golden section rectangles and prisms as well as circles, and extends to the stimuli of our everyday environment, involving mass transit systems, sunlight, and patterns found in time. The search for patterns in geometrical forms has increasingly focused on the golden section prism, an essentially stable and balanced form, and how the natural stasis of this form can be interrupted when the prism is bisected and destabilised by diagonal lines and cuts. The disposition of the latter is influenced by Schoenberg’s tonal system and results in a passive and harmonious form becoming dissonant. These are the Segmented Prisms. In the kinetic sculpture ‘Pulse’ a ring of neon set into the outside of a circle is energised by the vibration of trains entering and leaving a station and in ‘Timepiece’ patterns of aesthetic imagery mark the duration of the hour.


RECENT EXHIBITIONS

Not only in Space, but also in Time. Zitadelle Contemporary Arts Centre, Berlin. 2020.

Gallery Artists & London Art Fair, Brownsword Hepworth. 2020.

5th Plinth, Chelsea Arts Club, 2019.

Crafting Monumentality, Brownsword Hepworth. 2018.

London Art Fair, Brownsword Hepworth. 2018.


NOTABLE COMMISSIONS

Audio Kinetic Sculpture. Fermynwoods Contemporary Art. 2010.

Jessops Gardens. Cheltenham Borough Council. 2009.

Time Within the Hour, Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle. 2003.

Pulse. Four Lane Ends, Newcastle upon Tyne Metro. 2000.