6 days ago
Writer on Waking the Dead behind fascinating exhibition in Bolton
A screenwriter behind series such as Waking the Dead and DCI Banks, has recently shifted his focus to sculpture, unveiling his debut exhibition at the P5 Gallery on Bolton Train Station.
Heralding from Painswick in Gloucestershire, Laurence Davey moved to South Manchester five years ago after accepting a position at Bolton University (now the University of Greater Manchester) teaching the undergraduate course for Film and Television Production.
SCENE took Laurence around a year to fully complete. (Image: Leah Collins)
The opening night for his debut exhibition, SCENE, which was unveiled at the P5 Gallery on Bolton Train Station, was a roaring success. The monumental wood ensemble, the tallest being 12 feet high and eight feet across, has evoked powerful and conflicting feelings in spectators.
SCENE was unveiled on May 22 at the P5 Gallery on Bolton Train Station.
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There is a fascinating tension exuding from the exhibit. Laurence's 10 sculptures are made from trees all over the UK, including his hometown.
One of the key themes that SCENE explores is the idea of bringing the rural back to one of the centres of the Industrial Revolution, to the train station that once brought so many rural people to cities to make commodities and perhaps be commodified.
Laurence said: 'I've had a life-long interest in sculpture, but I decided to study English Literature at Oxford University, which put me on a different path entirely.
'Growing up in Painswick, famous for its 99 Yew trees in the Churchyard next to my primary school, these trees left us frightened and enchanted. They were menacing and had presence.
"Each sculpture is made from a different wood; Sycamore, Birch, Holly, Apple wood, Cherry wood, Pine, Walnut wood.
The sculptures are vastly different in size, with each one made from a different type of wood. (Image: Leah Collins) 'I used power tools in addition to gouges to create the sculptures, which were then finished with a beeswax polish. I'm a father of two and have a full-time job, so this was certainly a jobs" target="_blank">work in progress. Overall, it took around a year to complete.
'Initially, I sketched an outline, two orbs pulling away from one another but still connected. In this piece, the sculpture as made from a walnut log from Staffordshire.
'I wanted to create this feeling in the viewer when they held the sculpture, interacting with it, of a solid form that becomes fragile and infantile – a collision of protectiveness and violence.
'One of my personal favourites is the maternal figure, placed on the left of the circular exhibit. It has a womb-like body with a protective hand-like figure protruding from it. A mother turned out violent and religious with wings.
'The largest of the figures, passive and male, I first took inspiration from the idea of a crown. It's made from a sawn up birch tree. This figure is mounted on a steel bolt to give the appearance that is erupting from the void.'
The largest of the figures was initially inspired by the form of a crown, Laurence adds. (Image: Leah Collins) Each sculpture is placed on a suspended black circular base, which Laurence says was painted with an expensive paint, the closest to military-grade Vantablack in order to absorb the surrounding light and create the impression of a 'void'.
Laurence added: 'SCENE explores the return of animism; the combined sculptures are anthropomorphic and zoological.
'It's also uncanny; there's resonance between structures of our sentience – perhaps aspects that we would rather deny. There wasn't a direct inspiration for SCENE and each viewer responds to the sculptures differently.
'Part of the meaning of SCENE comes from the space in which it is exhibited: trees have been bought into Bolton Railway Station. The viewer experiences various encounters with Guardian Trees, Sentinel Trees and Trees of animism.'
SCENE is available to view at the P5 Gallery on Bolton Railway Station until June 15.
