Simon Gaiger

Simon’s wood and steel sculptures are very much influenced by the rich and varied layers of his life and surroundings – his childhood, time spent working as a shipwrights assistant, the sea, engineering, history and mythology – drawings and thoughts collected over many years in the piles of black and grey sketchbooks that fill his home and studio in Wales.

They are descriptions of the elements, forces and patterns within the landscape, natural and manmade, a synthesis of where these meet, clash or unify.

There is a raw tension of opposing forces in his sculptures, elements strain and pull against each other or balance precipitously. Many of them can be re-configured, changing the interplay of spaces within and around them, inviting participation from the viewer. Where colour is used it unifies form and accentuates the play of light.

Simon’s sculptures are constructed from wood and forged and welded steel, sometimes concrete. It is the energy of their forms and the universality of their themes that give them their lasting resonance.

Simon Gaiger was born in 1965 in Banbury, UK. He spent his childhood travelling to Uganda, Sudan, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Falkland Islands, finally settling down to Cornwall. He was elected in 2008 as a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors.

Cavaliero Finn will debut his work at its first Crafting a Difference Show curated by Brian Kennedy as part of Collect 2021.

See Simon's work in our feature on Metals