WORK OF THE WEEK : Bill Woodrow, ‘Celloswarm’, 2002 & ‘Clockswarm’, 2001
Bill Woodrow
Celloswarm, 2002
Bronze, stone and gold leaf
211 x 95 x 96 cm
6ft 11 x 3ft 1 ⅜ x 3ft 1 ¾ in.
Ed 4/8 plus 4 Artists Casts
Bill Woodrow (b. 1948)
The swarm series was created in response to Woodrow’s experience at a beekeeping course in the late 1990s. He has described the feelings derived from handling the bees as warm and sensual. He has also emphasised the impact of the practical side of the beekeeping course on the works he produced, particularly regarding the shapes and forms of these sculptures.
Celloswarm is part of this series, which covers familiar and inanimate objects with swarms of golden bees, the frenzied structure of the swarm is rendered in solid, heavy bronze covered with honey-coloured gold leaf. In Celloswarm, the temporary form of the musical instrument is held aloft by a solid piece of stone. The swarm gathering weightlessly is ready to disband at any moment, and the buzz of the swarm resonates with the sound of the cello.
Woodrow has exhibited extensively. He has had solo shows at Tate Britain and Tate Modern, London; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield; Palacio Nacional de Queluz, Oporto, Portugal; and Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, Germany. A major retrospective of his work was held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 2013.
His work is in public and private collections including the Government Art Collection, UK; The Tate Gallery, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Moderna Museet, Sweden; Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal; and the Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Netherlands.
Bill Woodrow
Clockswarm, 2001
Bronze and Gold leaf
23 x 34.3 x 10cm
9 x 1ft 1 ½ x 4 in.