▶ FOCUS ON: PETER TILLEY

Left: Peter Tilley, 'Arrival' 2009, lead, timber, 28.5 x 27 x 11cm
Right: Peter Tilley, 'Almost Gone; 2009, lead timber, 28.5 x 27 x 11cm

In Peter Tilley's body of work, "the figure embarks upon a journey that could be interpreted as a voyage through time rather than space.

The androgynous figure lingers and is reluctant to let go, yearning for a past just gone, apprehensive of an uncertain future. Seemingly ordinary journeys take on symbolic values in the search for meaning in life."

Left: Peter Tilley, 'Barren Landscape' 2010, patinated bronze, edition of 5, 20 x 22.5 x 8cm
Right: Peter Tilley, 'What Lies Beneath' 2009, cast iron, mild steel - unique, 160 x 125 x 40cm

The work for Tilley's September exhibition "shifts between still life tableau and compositions based around the figure. It could be seen as a dialogue with the self while reflecting on issues of the times and the nature of society. A physical manifestation of the personal and the universal through the use of an unassuming figure grouped with everyday objects. There is a recurring meditation on life’s opposing forces of hope/despair, real/wishful, life/death and permanence/decay etc. The form and context of these works will to a large extent be intuitively understood, being derived from concepts commonly encountered. However, at the same time the work can be rich in contradiction and complexity, implying an experience of the real world."