Material Matters is curated by Sarah Tombs featuring Sokari Douglas Camp, Lee Grandjean, Marie-Therese Ross and Andrew Sabin.
Material Matters explores the relationship of process and materiality, how through experimentation and manipulation the sculptor is able to generate sculptural objects whose content and motivations are accessible to an audience.
Grandjean’s work deals with form and pictorial elements. At the heart of his practice is wood carving, which is deconstructed and then reworked, creating amalgamations of forms made from concrete, mesh, and plastics. Colour is applied to the surface which consolidates the sculptures.
‘For me, materials have to be pushed beyond their literal characteristics, beauty is not the goal, but an authentic and believable sculptural energy and presence in which form, and content are one’.
His new body of work Heroes is a response to Elysium’s former life as a nightclub. Grandjean has created a series ‘revellers’ that interact with the architecture of the gallery.
‘When responding to the challenge of bringing a body of work to the Elysium Gallery, I was fascinated by the name and the way it opened-up in me a re-enchantment with the Greek myths that my mother read to me when I was young. Those myths of course that underpin so much of Western European art. I decided to take on certain characters from Greek myths and to use them unambiguously as subject matter for a series of sculptures. Myths are always metaphors of course, illuminating human vulnerabilities that underly any heroic’.
‘For me, materials have to be pushed beyond their literal characteristics, beauty is not the goal, but an authentic and believable sculptural energy and presence in which form, and content are one’.
Sculptor, draughtsman and teacher, born in London, although he lived for part of his youth in Romania. Studied at North-East London Polytechnic, 1967–8, then Winchester School of Art, 1968–71. Grandjean had a studio in London, 1971–80, then moved to Reepham, Norfolk. From 1980–1 he was research fellow in sculpture at Winchester School of Art, having lectured at Wimbledon School of Art since 1976, appointed senior tutor from 1977. In 1991 became sculpture tutor at Royal College of Art,. He also worked widely as a visiting lecturer and examiner.
Grandjean works in various materials and is interested in “the transformation of material” and with non-European and ancient civilisations shared a desire to “render raw materials into another expressive substance”.
He showed in outdoor exhibitions, such as Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Cannizaro Park in Wimbledon and he participated in the 1983 Welsh Sculpture Trust Margam show, Sculpture in a Country Park. Among Grandjean’s later solo exhibitions were King of Hearts, Norwich, 1996, and Groundwork, Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham, 1998.
In 2023 he held a retrospective ‘Seeing Things’ at the Gibberd Gallery, Harlow. His work is in many private and public collections including the Arts Council.
Exhibition Preview: Friday 29th March 7pm.
Exhibition continues until Saturday 11th May.
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sat 11am – 7pm