Jeff Lowe

In the close distance

Pangolin London

 January 2020

A solo exhibition by influential British sculptor Jeff Lowe at Pangolin London has been announced for January 2020. Open from 15th January – 22nd February 2020, the exhibition will feature a series of Lowe’s largescale sculptures alongside smaller works and prints and mark a shift in Lowe’s usual aesthetic through a change in technique, material and bold use of colour.

Jeff Lowe’s new series of largescale sculptures are shaped from curved sheets of aluminium, folded in and around each other, forming abstract circular structures. Cutting silhouettes into the aluminium sheets allows the viewer to look through the outer ‘skin’ to an intimate space within. Works will include: Almira’s Aria, no.19 (2019), Alceste’s Aria, no.21(2019), and Ottone’s Aria, no.20 (2019). These works explore volume, space and layering with architectural forms. The title of the show, In the close distance, encapsulates the impact of the works, which demand space and from afar appear as images, but as the viewer draws closer they become an experience.

Although maintaining the industrial quality that is synonymous with Lowe’s works, who has historically used heavy materials such as iron and steel with traditional welding techniques since the 1970’s, these new works possess a playful lightness that is less common in the artist’s oeuvre. In this series, Lowe has decided to leave the joining process visible, exposing the bolts where the sheets of metal have been attached, in turn the nuts and bolts become crucial to the sculptors’ visual language.

The artist also includes colour, most notably blues, pinky reds, golds and whites, a marked change from earlier works. After the 1960s, and the New Generation sculpture, Lowe along with many other sculptors felt as though colour had been somewhat overdone. Consequently, he decided to use provocative colours which posed a challenge to his artistic technique, this challenge then became intrinsic to his creative process. Lowe ended up appreciating how the use of colour and contrasting tones enabled him to exaggerate the layering effect of his sculptures.

Alongside this significant body of work will be small-scale works and jewellery, which Lowe insists are never maquettes for bigger pieces, but rather sculptures in their own right. Another new departure for the exhibition has been collaborating with Kipp Gresham at the Print Studio in Cambridge to create a series of new screenprints. In line with the large-scale works, these brightly coloured works on paper explore layers, space, texture and have an extraordinary three-dimensional quality to them.

The shift in Lowe’s work can be attributed in part to his move to the Lime Works in Faversham in 2015, a former water-purification plant built in 1937. The house which is constructed of two monumental cylindrical forms, has been restored by Lowe over the past three years, and is made up of living and working spaces where Lowe is influenced by the surrounding architecture and landscape. The building’s interior earthy tones which draw on the artist’s love for the Algarve, and the circular forms of the house are echoed in Lowe’s sculptures.

Lowe has been making sculpture since the age of 15 and refused other compulsory art classes such as life drawing when he attended Leicester art school. Between 1971-75 Lowe studied at Central Saint Martin’s under the tutelage of  William Tucker, Philip King and Anthony Caro and was subsequently a student of ‘The New Generation’ of British sculptures. During his time at Saint Martins he was awarded his first solo exhibition at Leicester Galleries in London’s Cork Street. He later went on to to represent Britain at the Paris Biennale and has exhibited his work in group shows at the Hayward Gallery, Arts Council, British Council, Serpentine Gallery and Ikon Gallery.

Notes to Editors:

This will be Jeff Lowe’s second major solo exhibition at Pangolin London.

Internationally acclaimed sculptor Jeff Lowe came to prominence in 1974 with his first one man show at the prestigious Leicester Galleries in Londonʼs Cork Street. Lowe represented Britain at the Paris Biennale.  Lowe won the Sainsbury award in 1975 and the Pollock-Krasner award in 1993. Over the past forty years he has made sculpture on a daily basis and  played a major role in advancing abstract sculpture.  

Born in 1952 and educated at St. Martins School of Art, Lowe lives and works in both London and the Algarve in Portugal. Lowe was taught by amongst others, Sir Anthony Caro, Phillip King and William Tucker. Recent solo exhibitions include Object Lessons with Pangolin London, an exhibition of his early 80's steel sculptures at Whitford Fine Art; other significant exhibitions include Hayward Gallery and Serpentine Gallery, Guggenheim, Venice, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Galerie Josine Bockhoven, Amsterdam, Robert Steele Gallery, New York, Bodo Niemann Gallery, Berlin, Waddington & Shiell Gallery, Toronto, Musee Dʼart Moderne, France and The National Gallery, Australia, Flowers Gallery, London, Whitford Fine Art, London, and Henry Moore Institute, Leeds.