Ian Knowles is a sculptor and sound artist. The manner of the creation of his sculptures is slow and organic with shapes evoking natural eroded forms, sometimes reminiscent of human figures, other times of water smoothed rocks.
Non-representational sculpture frees our mind from the dominance of reality, creating new emotional and cognitive associations – each of which is personal and unique to the observer.
The process of carving a sculpture allows for a singular focus which obscures all else and connects materiality, tools, hands and human emotion in a way that allows for the bypassing of conscious and rigid decision making. It allows the creation of an object intrinsically and overwhelmingly personal and intimate.
My work is a result of years of personal emotional investment and tactile learning from carving the same material. Progression, development, and improvement are all by products if the process is considered as an intrinsic part of the outcome. My sculptures invite touching and interaction - they are objects which provide a connection between human emotion and enduring natural forms.
Where works are cast in bronze, each work is hand cast at the Mckinney fine art foundry. They are a small foundry who have perfected the casting of exquisite bronzes, each produced with genuine care and attention to quality and detail. The bronzes are delivered to me and I work on the patina of each edition of a work in my Studio. The creative aspect of producing the patina on the bronze is as integral a part of the creative process as producing the original model for casting. As each is hand finished, there are small differences in patina and colour making each work in an edition unique. Every work is inscribed with my signature, edition number and founders makers mark.