Meet the Artist: Will Nash
“Form, structure and geometry are at the heart of my practice. The sculptures and installations are the result of an ongoing exploration of these elements and the relationships they can have with each other.”
Multidisciplinary artist and sculptor Will Nash’s practice ranges from large scale outdoor public works to smaller gallery or domestic works.
His bold sculptures are inspired by the geometry of the natural world, and the examination of his place in it. Different bodies of work fall into families of forms that are connected by a particular geometry, repeating sequences of planes and angles to create similar variations on a theme. The sculptures are accessible and often playful; sequences of shapes, lines or angles encourage the viewer to explore the form following its lines to make sense of it.
Nash was born in Bangor, North Wales, in 1973 and studied Multimedia Fine Art at Middlesex University before completing an MA in Design by Project from the University of Brighton between 2004-2006. He has exhibited regularly in group and solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally, alongside producing public commissions for which he has won multiple awards throughout his career. Most recently Will has been awarded the Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Award for Public Art 2022.
MATERIAL MATTERS - 2021
Artelium first invited Nash to exhibit as part of the Material Matters show. An exhibition featuring three artists who use mathematics and movement to create sculptures and paintings that play with preconceptions of the architecture and landscape of a Sussex vineyard.
His different bodies of work fall into families of forms connected by a particular geometry, repeating sequences of planes and angles to create similar variations on a theme.
The sculptures shown were from two series of works defined by different starting points. Shroud, Cloak and Matter are, he explains “the result of an exploration process, allowing the forms to grow out from a point, controlling that growth with jigs and formers. In these works the finished form was not decided at the outset, it revealed itself during the making!“ By contrast, Isosceles Sculptures are the result of a series of restricted decisions.
FUTURES PAST - 2023
Nash’s work focuses on the connection of geometry, and the recurrence and repetition of planes and angles to create variations of form within the boundaries of the systems he devises Futures Past explores this theme by presenting not only finished pieces, but also providing the rare opportunity to see preparatory explorations and maquettes of some of his larger commissions that are sited across the UK.
Sculptural pieces on display as part of Futures Past include Atomic Fever , which was suspended in the beams of the tasting room and The Chevron which marks the first permanent sculpture in the grounds of the estate.
To coincide with the arrival of The Chevron, Artelium also invited Nash to revisit and re-explore the work he did during the ‘You Are Here’ project back in 2009, with a view to creating new original works for our limited release Artefact wine labels.
Returning to the isosceles pattern, Nash revised and evolved the idea introducing some additional variations on the triangle. What would happen if it was expanded, layered and rotated?
Read about FUTURES PAST HERE