Sarah Mayhew laps up a new exhibition of sculptural works in Clanfield

Nestled away in the conservative Cotswolds is the contemporary High House Gallery, where the cutting edge curatorship is beating a track to Clanfield.

High House opened less than a year ago, and was a veritable escape to the country for proprietor/curator/art collector Martin Jenner and his wife, who escaped life in the capital to concentrate on the finer things in life hinging their move around the renovation and reinvention of the handsome High House.

Located in the grounds of an imposing Victorian property dating from 1856 the sculpture gardens are only open during the summer months, and last year’s exhibition was so good that it prompted repeat visits, so when I received an email with an image of Julian Wild’s work Deadly emblazoned on it, and an invitation to enjoy more new and exciting sculpture this summer I simply couldn’t wait to hot foot it over to Clanfield.

Objectify is the embodiment of truly contemporary themes, materials, production and ideas. It is an exhibition of bold sculpture by a handful of important contemporary artists who have broken free from traditional figurative and modernist modes of sculpture to produce innovative and arresting outdoor works.

For some of the artists this exhibition presents their first foray into exhibiting outdoors, and for others the works have been created specifically for this exhibition.

Exhibiting artists include Robert Phillips, Hollie Mackenzie, Conall McAteer, Alex Chinneck and Sam Zealey. There is no weak link in the wonderfully welded exhibition; all works are commendable in their own way. But for me, there are two standout artists, and they are Julian Wild and Lucy Tomlins.

Lucy Tomlins’ striking Concrete Country in Blue is installed at the entrance to the exhibition, and is a very bold, consciously heavy-handed introduction to the works on display as part of Objectify.

Though often involving labour-intensive, hand-crafted elements, her work is not limited to a specific medium or approach and draws from the spectrum of sculptural practice as is required for an individual piece. Directly referential to the everyday, Tomlins remakes the ready-made, in doing so enabling a removal of any unproductive associations or symbolic qualities the ready-made equivalents may possess, setting the sculpture free to acquire other new associations.

This altered experience is wrapped up with the reveal of often uncanny and unexpected relationships between seemingly disparate materials and things.

Julian Wild’s work had me hooked when I first encountered it last year in Modern Art Oxford’s Project Space where he exhibited a work composed of many meters of drainpipes and their fixings – a form of three-dimensional drawing open to public intervention and endless potential, presented by The China Shop Gallery.

Working in a variety of materials from stainless steel through to ceramic and glass, creating both indoor and exterior pieces Wild creates linear structures that either explore the boundaries of a pre-determined shape or the boundaries of the architecture in which they exist.

Frequently making site-specific work, Wild’s projects are often based on the history of the site and reference functional processes and systems.

While the powder-coated painted stainless steel work in this exhibition is not to be meddled with and these static works form an important part of his practice, Wild also clearly enjoys the challenge of creating sculptures that offer limitless possibilities and engage with people on a large scale.

Similar to Wild’s work at Modern Art Oxford he has also been commissioned to make public artworks for different environments such as Millfield School, The Cass Sculpture Foundation, The Jerwood Sculpture Park and Sculpture in various parklands in Ireland.

In short, this exhibition showcases some of the best sculpture the region has seen in a long time – the Jenners have certainly succeeded in objectifying first class contemporary fine art in the Cotswolds; and for that, I for one am extremely grateful!

Objectify continues until September 15.
Admission is free  and the gallery at High House, Main Street, Clanfield is open Thursday to Sunday, 11am-5pm.
See highhousegallery.com call 01367 810126 or email enquiries@
highhousegallery.com