Free-standing sculpture by William Peers

William Peers freestanding sculptures are primarily in marble, with the materials being sourced from Italy and Portugal.

Click once on each work to enlarge it. For more images of each sculpture, please contact us at : info@williampeers.com

 

Tal

Tal was the inspiration for the exhibition ‘A Line in Space’. I find this form fascinating, and have carved several versions of it.

Yoha

This sculpture reclines, and I can’t help being reminded of Henry Moore. Are those languid limbs to some?

 

Tulla

A double loop, almost touching along its length.

 

 

Tetsu

This is the most compact of the series and we are thrown off the scent of its regularity as it is balanced off-centre.

Loren

Loren lies back, and it is unusual in the series as the resting point is far from the centre.

 

Sandlin

At Sandlin the children danced in the dark with sparklers. The lines of the sculpture remind me of great sweeps of light.

Achill

Deceptively simple; this form is astonishingly difficult to balance. The weight is low and the circle eccentric, giving rise to the speculation: Is the irregularity causing the thinning? Or gravity perhaps?

 

Lyra

The base with its two feet lends Lyra a figurative feel, and the unbalanced sculpture seems as if it is moving.

Owello

For a while Owello was too regular, too balanced. I pushed (not literally as you cannot push marble) one side up in relation to the other to give some restlessness to it.

Mogal

One of the most challenging sculptures of the series, technically. I like the negative space trefoil.

 

Tasil

Double rings almost touching whizz round on a solid base.

 

 

Aire

Almost round, yet a tension seems to exist between the earth and the sky. This ‘tug of war’ might have caused the thinning.

Pohai

This is pushing the eccentric circle even further. Some convex forms become concave and thin at the point of most change.

Tawin

Both irregular and balanced, the trajectory seems uncertain, hesitant and yet still as the weight is central.

Timolin

Timolin is flatter and wider than Tasil and Tulla but with the same double loop.

 

Perot

Not one, but two, loops in space. Here I tried to push the eccentricity to one corner and let the rest be still.

Mila

A particularly lovely piece of Portuguese marble, and one of the first bases that moved away from the rectangular.

Cornula

I have tried variations of this theme. Here the section is a trefoil and the twist quite gentle. I like forms that loop and trap the eye for a moment.

Sesillo

I vacillate between very regular forms and those that are less so. This sculpture was undecided for a while before I found this solution. I like it when a sculpture really is a voyage of discovery.

Elias

Elias has a change of direction. There were square edges that I took against and am happy I did. Now with softer lines I could concentrate on the balance alone.

Tamasan

Here the ring wobbles and the balance is sought from an unbalanced beginning. I had a real fight to make it work and now love the result.

 

Carlow

Ideas often lead to variation. In ‘Carlow’ the structure used in ‘Galvano’ was reduced to points. The angular mechanical edges give way to soft undulation.

 

Lynaeus

At least twenty years ago I carved this pattern in a relief carving. I wanted to try the pattern wrapped around a sphere.

 

Paluno

Here, and even more tricky, I wrapped the same pattern seen in ‘Lynaeus’ around a ring.

Galvano

This has a much more mathematical feel than most of my work. Actually the segments are marked out with string rather than with any fiendish mathematical calculation.

 

Kotori

Here the twisting motif bends to form a saddle. Birds, weather vanes and horses come to mind.

 

 

Lunasa

Sculpture where there is no end to the flow interests me. The form circulates as do the forms upon the form. I was very glad to find a split piece of marble with natural rust staining, for the sculpture to sit on.

 

Vanya

A larger version of ‘Lunasa’, sitting very happily on a rough piece of Tunisian Black Marble.

Corinth

The twisting design adds tension to the ring and gives the sculpture power. I love the colouring on this marble.

 

Elverben

This is such a wonderful material to look at but very difficult to carve. The twisting design feels very different on the dark stone.

 

Still Crenham

I wanted to try a circular form with the same patterning and a smaller hole. The difference, in size and shape on the inside to the outside, is correspondingly much greater.

Fisk

I wanted to see how the twisting motif employed in ‘Corinth’ would work on a vertical form. I left the top rough (as well as a small section of the bottom) to remind us that it was made from a natural material. It brings to mind an ancient architectural remnant too.

 

Polette

These soft forms, joined to make a ring, bring to mind all sorts of good things to me. Boiled sweets, polished pebbles on the seashore, old bars of soap, coins worn smooth by countless pockets. The more I look, the more I see. This idea led on to ‘Gamelin’ (below).

 

Sable

Here the discs are smaller up above, giving the sense that they are going right up into the sky.

 

Gamelin

After focusing on making circular forms with touching segments, here I am trying to simplify things with just three forms. Making each form work in its own right - as well as touching the others - is tricky.

Wineri

The loop with a twist. Rarely is a sculpture interesting from all sides. This one is, I believe.

Tamago

We look in inside this world and see a moon or sun. The inside form is balanced with the outer form.

Falkinn

A new thought, playing with this heavy texture to animate a surface. This is the first time that I have employed these wisps - animating the surface. Suddenly the wedge form becomes bristling or scuttling.

Fraenir

The texture, once more, giving enormous movement to this curling form.

Friel

With its multiple forms falling, or perhaps rising up. Is it growing or cascading? I’m not sure.

Pershar

Very gentle and smooth on one side, and aggressive on the other. I am happy to have introduced this element.

 

 

Menura

Flowing forms from constraint to liberty. Reminiscent of ‘Kotori’ and birdlike figuration.

Tor

The very start of a series of sculptures, exhibited at John Martin Gallery in 2014. The fitting together of two forms. Is it a figure? This is the simplest - and to my mind - one of the most satisfactory sculptures of the series.

 

Young Able

The first step away from the ‘alkathene joint’. The segments are separated from each other. Independent. They climb and twist.

 

Glad Able

The segments get very small and thin towards the top. Trying to reach upwards.

 

Torque I

The forms and symmetry of the void are nicely balanced here. I made a larger version of this a little later on.

 

Rushes ’O

This sculpture of joined segments leaves only a tiny hole in the middle. The strength and presence of the hole becomes as powerful as the forms themselves.

 

Still Cedar

One of four small rings of segments that came out of a single block of marble. They work together wonderfully as a mini series within the exhibition. Here: tiny, sharp, angular segments.

 

Freewheel

The fourth in the mini series. Here the angled forms give the sculpture movement and life. Is it spinning?

 

Torin

Following the circular segmented forms, what would it be like to visually twist the circle up? Technically very awkward that’s how! The few inches inbetween the passing forms take as long as the rest of the sculpture. Ever changing as you walk around.

 

Skipping Jo

Here I go from technical trickery, to technical lunacy! A double twist. This is the only sculpture in the series where I abandon the segmented forms - I feel they might have over complicated an already complex form.

 

Lazy Boy

One of the simplest and free-flowing of the series. Stacked forms but in a loose, slightly more arbitrary way than some.

 

Slim

My young son calls this the ‘Stack of Books’. He is right. The simple twist by way of animation works well here. It also brings to mind oriental temples.

 

Tarjack I

The first, smaller version of the ‘Stack of Books’. The forms are curved in all directions giving great animation.

 

Torque II

A larger versions of one of the four from the mini series of rings. Lovely in the landscape. I have an idea to carve a bigger version still.

 

Tarjack II

Here the segments sit on top of one another like squared mushrooms. How it changes everything - making the underside curved.

 

Caper

The ferns that grown in the hedgerows in Cornwall unfurl like this. Stacked forms enjoying the vertical and the circular ideas in one.

 

Revel

A second version, where the smallest forms continue upwards. By cutting the marble cleverly it becomes so animated that it is hard to imagine that the sculpture came from a single block.

 

Coy

Here the diminishing segments twist and fall again as they die out. Lots of very awkward little gaps to bruise the knuckles on. Ouch!

 

Bess

The largest sculpture in the series with fantastic colouration. I love the animation created by the segments changing direction.

 

Join

I love this bend. It came from looking at a bent piece of plastic pipe. The end hovers off the surface of the base: almost touching.

 

Clinch

This work feels like a transition into a new direction. The bent articulation is still seen but the curling limbs and opening of the void are new. There is more air than stone.

 

Cinquain

I carved a series called 100 Days. This carving was after the end of that series and was the continuing the point I had reached. The figure is articulated with a device discovered and employed during the second half of that series.

 

Triad

This is as if two forms have been put together. The articulated limbs below and the triangular motif above that reminds me of Gaudier Brzeska. He was one of my earliest passions. The whole assemblage is very energetic.

 

 

Lifting Mist

This first sculpture I have carved in this wonderful Onyx. Hard and brittle; more like glass than marble but with a wonderful translucence.

 

In and Out of Weeks

This undulating form in Esmarelda Onyx mirrors the shapes found on the front on the back. The top and bottom edges have a rough crust that only serves to enhance the extraordinary colouration found within.

 

Green Torso

This Esmarelda Onyx is so crazy, so exotic, so overwhelming that only a simple form works best. It is also very liable to fall apart if there are parts sticking out of it.

 

Onyx Figure

Onyx is quite, quite different from marble - more translucent. The forms need exaggeration in order to be read. With the sun on it, this torso glows.

 

Run

This joyful figure with huge limbs sprints forward. She has wonderful warm colouration on her front which is typical of marble from this area of Portugal.

 

Walking Figure

This figure is after Egyptian carvings I have seen and loved. The figure is striding out, yet formal and still.

 

 

Swimmer

This swimming torso delicately balances on her belly. I enjoyed thinking about the roll of the trunk and trying to put it in the carving.

 

Angel

I love carving these figures. The strength, or rather weakness, of the marble demands that the limbs are massive. The constraints of the material lead the way.