Moore of Lowe - Jeff Lowe

Moore of Lowe 

Jeff Lowe's New Maquettes and Prints 


A new series of sculptures and prints emerge as Jeff Lowe finds his greatest inspiration. Following a move to Kent and the renovation of an intriguing Art Deco building “Limeworks”, Lowe’s work makes fundamental changes as he settles into home and landscape.


Lowe’s new sculptures sit comfortably in the landscape; they are made for landscape as was Henry Moore. Whilst inspired by the present they are layered with influence from the past. His recent output has shed its bulk and even its armature, curving structures and ellipses now draw us into a very personal space


Quote from; 

Jeff Lowe: In the Close Distance Pangolin London


"I have a very special relationship with this property, like I never had before. I feel like it has emotions and it doesnt like being empty. This makes it difficult for me to leave it "


Sculptural Ellipses

Lowe is a prolific and experimental maker; from small, delicate maquettes to ample human size forms and giant walk-in sculptures. We make a connection and feel comforted by these new works, challenged by their weightlessness and lifted by their spirit. 


“The layers, the curves, the seeing through, I see that it's very like the house…The way they curve around is like looking at the hills here, seeing the top of the trees and the layering of the trees. ” 


Lowe's skill is to surprise; turn a corner and there's an unexpected form to discover; It's colourful and curvaceous, get closer and look deeper, he’s started to allow us in, to find feelings and emotions sourced through his experience.




 Musical Powers

Lowe works to music. Sometimes Philip Glass can be heard to pipe through “Limeworks”, traversing through its snake-like spaces. Often there’s an Opera he’s obsessed with which plays repeatedly as he works to maintain continuity of concentration. During a recent series of sculptures and listening to Handel's Operas the sculptures became aptly named after the Arias. 


“I played the Operas on a loop. As if I was trying to put within the sculpture parts of it that had the same sense as the Aria. It was important to have areas that were simpler in shape and surface, and other areas that were more detailed, intense and active as the Arias seemed to work like this in the opera.”



Colour or Mood 

The first of the new venture sculptures were completed in grey paint to match the aluminium from which they are made. Lowe likes the non materiality of aluminium and the fact that it could be anonymous or even bland. 


“I always want to have anonymous material to start with which goes through different processes in order to arrive at the final piece.”


His disciplined daily routine of making sculpture has led him to find a palette of new pigments and refine their application. 


“The new sculptures needed some kind of visual code. I needed to make a definite distinction between what was outside the sculpture and what was inside. The colours also create mood …They delineate elements within…accentuate the layers and give the sculptures clarity.”


For a couple of years Lowe's has been choosing colours that challenge him even ones he thought he didn't like.


“In terms of deciding which colours to use in the sculptures this was gradual and involved changes. I started painting up sheets of colour that I would attach to the sculptures and then decide what worked. It was all about giving the work an interesting dimension reinforcing the thickness of the material, and having certain colours bleed through to the front of the sculpture.”


There is an emotional core to the new works and sometimes many - the cores resonate and dance with colour. 



A Chance to Print

Lowe explores printmaking in tandem with creating sculptures. He explains the subtleties and nuances of the results and his aims. 


“I wanted them to be sculptural without looking like flattened versions of the sculpture.”


At “Limeworks” Monoprints provide a chance to experiment with positive - negative spaces, layering of colour and collage. 


“When you work with prints  it can either reveal the layer beneath or be completely opaque. These are the elements in the prints that are almost illusionistic, there are parts where it almost looks like the shapes are bending around or you see through one of the apertures that looks almost as if it is pulling towards you, they almost look 3D.”


While working together with Master Printmaker Kip Gresham at Cambridge Print Studio,  Lowe’s prints have further developed to push the boundaries of possibilities.


“I wanted them to have a sense of collage where you feel you can almost peel back the layers. I have made prints on both a small and large scale. While both are very sculptural the smaller works you experience with your eyes, and the big prints you experience physically with your body so it’s a very different experience.”



Jeff Lowe and Kip Gresham
Jeff Lowe and Kip Gresham checking prints

    • Curving Creations

    To find endless inspiration from one’s own surroundings and draw on one’s past must be the ultimate goal for any great artist. Lowe has found freedom creating sculptures and works on paper in any size, shape and colour.


    On experiencing the ellipses we see Lowe’s works is thoughtful and deeply reflective while under the new Kentish elements it has also become brilliant, the hues awakening a “ joie de vivre”.


    The sculpture garden at “Limeworks'' is his theatre and unveils a masterful selection of works on a grand scale - here are some of the small and intimate Maquettes and prints that inspired them.


    LImeworks Sculpture Garden at Sunset

    Maquettes

    Rock Paper Scissors - Hear Speak See

    Biography

    Jeff Lowe contemporary sculptor known for his monumental, architecturally inspired works. His work demonstrates an intense engagement with material, surface and design. As a student of 'The New Generation' of British sculptors emerging in the 1960's, influenced by Anthony Caro and Bill Tucker he explores industrial materials with an interest in releasing the sculpture from the confines of the plinth so that it inhabits the viewer's personal space.

    Lowe studied at the Saint Martin's School of Art in the early 1970’s, coming to prominence in 1974 in his first solo exhibition at the prestigious Leicester Galleries in London's Cork Street. He was awarded the Sainsbury Award in 1973, and the Pollock-Krasner in 1993.

    


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