187. MONUMENTAL STEEL BULL by TERENCE COVENTRY

© 2012 Pangolin London

Pangolin is one of the  few galleries in London dedicated to exhibiting sculpture. Its current exhibition is of sculptors' drawings and works on paper, but outside is a changing exhibition of large scale pieces using the public spaces and canal-side at Kings Place. Here is a bull poised at the edge of of the canal, which you can see in the top left hand corner. It has a weighty physical presence - a bull you would not want to tangle with. That tail is sprightly, but not playful; the horns sprout danger. It's made of steel and my Basher Science Book on the Periodic Table (Adrian Dingle) says that iron is the most important metal ever known to humankind and when mixed with small amounts of carbon to make steel, the sky's the limit. The Pangolin Foundry is Europe's largest sculpture factory.

Pig farmer ploughs a new furrow in sculpture is the heading of a Guardian article on Coventry's work, together with an excellent 10 minute video. You'll find it at
guardian.co.uk/.../farmer-terence-coventry-sculp.

Rooks Copyright 2012 Pangolin

 It tells how after 25 years of farming in Cornwall, Terence Coventry's love of art turned him into a sculptor of bronze and steel. In the video he talks of the animals – pigs, cattle, goats, dogs -  that inspire him. Rooks are a continual source of inspiration as they crowd round farm machinery to snatch worms and grubs, particularly the moment when a living bird becomes weightless.  His sculpture, he says, 'is not of a rook but about a rook'.

If you are lucky enough to be in Cornwall at any time there's free access to a sculpture park where there are usually about 25 of his works on display. It's made up of 3 small meadows near the old Cornish coastal path 10 minutes' walk south of Coverack.

pangolinlondon.com

 kingsplacegallery.co.uk