Monument sculptor
The sculptor for the monument is Paul Day.
Having first studied art at Colchester and then Dartington art
schools, Paul Day completed his training at Cheltenham in 1991.
It was there that he turned his attention from painting to sculpture
and where he first started to explore the representation of the
figure in architectural space using high relief, an art form
that combines drawn composition and fully rounded sculpture.
Upon finishing his education Day began working professionally
at once, aided by a grant from the Prince of Wales Business Trust.
There followed a commission from the Gloucestershire authoress
Jilly Cooper to make a large scale relief-sculpture for her home.
This, coupled with a commercially successful show at the Cheltenham
Museum Art Gallery, enabled Day to move to France and establish
a base there for himself and his French wife.
Since then, Day has developed a form of art singularly difficult
to categorise in terms of contemporary artistic idioms. His high
relief sculptures in terracotta, resin and bronze depicting all
manner of subjects, have been exhibited widely in Europe and
are appreciated not least for their peculiarly personal approach
to perspective. His exhibitions attract considerable interest
from both the public and media alike; his Paris Exhibition in
2000 had over 8000 visitors and another in the Brussels the following
year, 5000. This appeal of an artist who is unquestionably of
his time but whose work links up with a long standing tradition
is rare. Day has replaced the themes of Urbanity and the City
at the heart of his artistic practice and, in order to represent
them, has elaborated a 'perspective of subjectivity'. Early on,
his work attracted the attention of the Pompidou Centre's architectural
curator and a collaborative relationship has sprung up between
the two, leading to various events and exhibitions.
Since his first solo show in Paris in 1995, Paul Day has undertaken
many commissions and exhibitions in France, Germany, Belgium
and the UK. Perhaps the most notable of these to date is the
25 metre long terracotta frieze recently commissioned by the
Royal St Hubert galleries. 'Brussels - an urban comedy' depicts
life in the Capital City of Europe with acidity. The continuous
image of juxtapositions and fusions, like a contemporary Bayeaux
Tapestry, has captured the spirit of the place and contains a
language for the initiated that addresses many of the complexities
in Brussels' recent past.
It is due to an exhibition at the Foundation 'Sculpture at
Goodwood' in 2001 that Paul Day was selected to compete in the
competition for a monument to the Battle of Britain and for which
he was chosen. This will be his first public monument to be sited
in Britain.
Click here for a interview with
Paul Day
The sculptor's vision and ideas behind
the monument
Description of the monument scenes
by Paul Day
Click
here to go directly to the Sculptor's web site
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