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William Braithwaite

Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors

Engaging the viewer

Brutal beauty

Braithwaite holds a BA in sculpture and environmental art from The Glasgow School of Art. Has won multiple awards for his work: RSS Gilbert Bayes Award 2018, Creative Edinburgh Award 2019 and Richard Coley Award 2020. He is interested in objects which engage the viewer in a bodily way, these are large-scale works which are complex in design from the built up repetitions. The work is made from recycled concrete and is left with the bland natural colour of the material. This helps draw the attention to the form itself, influence from brutalist and minimal architecture can be seen but demonstrate form over function which art can consider.

 

Concrete, steel and copper

Concretion VI

Braithwaite is interested in objects which engage the viewer in a bodily way, these are large-scale works which are complex in design from the build-up of repetitions. The work is made from recycled concrete and is left with the bland, natural colour of the material. This helps to draw attention to the form itself: the influences of brutalist and minimal architecture can be seen but demonstrate form over function, something that art can consider when without architectural limitations.

Concrete &steel

Concretion IV

“Making on a large scale means that the viewer can have a bodily interaction with the work. I feel this is important when making work in relation architectural interventions. Being of a large scale often means exhibiting the work outside and work site specifically. It is interesting to see how sculpture inspired by architecture responds to buildings of varying architectural styles. Because of this constant exploration of form, material and location, one artwork makes the next with one sculpture inspiring the next.”

Concrete and steel

Concretion II

“While my work may look similar to some architectural forms, I am making something purely visual with no function, and with a conceptual framework that only art can have. The material, scale, form and location give my work its context and narrative, separating it from pure architecture.”

Concrete and steel

Concretion VII

“I believe my own artwork describes visual relationships; it is a way for me to make sense of architecture and its aesthetic values. It is a way of trying to understand abstract relationships. The difference between sculpture and architecture in my work is that architecture is the influence of my sculptural forms. The work is purely visual, with no function, but with a narrative and concept a building cannot have.”

Concrete and steel

Concretion III

“Using repetitive shapes and forms I build up a large form that has geometry and linear values. Often these works are made from concrete. This means that the works look as if they could have existed for a long time and could exist for a long time. Using concrete asks questions about the relationship of architecture and sculpture. The mundane colour of the material allows the viewer can pay more attention to the form and structure of the work. The works almost appropriate different architectural and other functional objects and combine them together to create a hybrid.”

Awards & education

Recognition

The Glasgow School of Art,
Sculpture and Environmental Art, BA (honours) 2014-2017

Leeds Arts University,
Foundation Diploma in Art and design, 2013-2014

Select Exhibitions

January 2020
SSA + VAS OPEN, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

December 2019
Gilbert Bayes Award Show, Royal Society of Sculptors

January 2019,
ALIGHT , Visual Art Scotland

December 2018
121st SSA Annual show, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

September 2018
Air Open, Air Art Gallery, Manchester

July 2018
Composition, Lichfield Cathedral, Lichfield

June 2018
Satellite, Hosted by Visual Art Scotland Summerhall, Edinburgh

April 2018

RSA New Contemporary’s 2018, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

January 2018
‘OPEN’, The Society of Scottish Artists, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

November 2017, MATERILAISM, The Maclaurin Gallery, Ayr

June 2017, Glasgow School Of Art Degree Show 2017, Glasgow School Of Art

January 2017, Young Contemporys from GSA,, The Glasgow Art Club, Glasgow