The extraordinary work of Michael Kenny travels to Bath

Associated media

Michael Kenny RA

‘The Crucifixx’ at Bath Abbey

‘Stations of the Cross’ at Quest Gallery

03 March–20 April 2014

Quest Gallery, in association with The Royal Academy of Arts and Bath Abbey, invites you to attend an exhibition of work by one of the most influential British sculptors of the
20th century, Michael Kenny.

On loan from the RA, these extraordinary works have been described as one of the finest examples of genuinely religious art within the Christian tradition, made since the Reformation. This joint exhibition features Kenny’s Stations of The Cross, 1998-99 which will be on show at Quest Gallery, Margarets Buildings, and his 1976 sculpture ‘Crucifixx’ which will be on display at Bath Abbey.

Plato referred to geometry, or at least to what the knowledge of geometry strives for, as the ‘knowledge of the eternal’.
I think the early Renaissance artists who discovered perspective thought of it as a kind of divine revelation,God’s ordering of the World. So, it had that kind of spiritual dimension; I think what interests me about drawing as structuring is this possibility of revealing a spiritual dimension in the work. Michael Kenny, 1994

Events

Bath Abbey
 Thursday 6 March 2014; 
all welcome

Doors open
6.15p.m. Talk by Brian Falconbridge
 followed by drinks with piano accompaniment: Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ

The speaker, Brian Falconbridge, is former Dean of the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Media & Design at London Metropolitan and President of The Royal British Society of Sculptors 2004-09.

Kenny’s work addressed the isolation implicit within the human condition, expressed often through the seated or reclining female figure, abstracted into lean economy, touching landscape and geometry, often incorporating devices such as the plumb-line, evoking a scientific search for truthful revelation. Brian Falconbridge

Panel discussion

BRLSI
16 Queens Square, BA1 2HN
Elwin Room
Saturday 15 March 2014
Coffee and tea served, 2:30 - 3:00p.m. Panel Discussion 3.00pm – 4p.m. 
Free admittance on the door

Chair: Ian Wilson - Arts Journalist

Panelists:

Ann Christopher RA, sculptor – Elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1980, becoming a Royal Academician in 1989 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1992. Christopher is best known for her sculptural style that articulates both great strength and delicate sensitivity. She is represented by Pangolin London, and lives and works near Bath.

Philomena Davidson, sculptor – Davidson works predominantly in bronze, creating figurative yet slightly surreal sculptures. She is intrigued by changes in ‘the self’ as stimulated by external influences. These can be physical or environmental but must be strong enough to initiate a dramatic response. In 1990 Philomena Davidson became the first women president of the Royal British Society of Sculptors

Brian Falconbridge, Former Dean of the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Media & Design at London Metropolitan and President of The Royal British Society of Sculptors 2004–9

Gerry Judah, sculptor – Former student of Kenny, Gerry Judah draws his influences from the ornate Indian architecture seen during his youth and from his reflections on historical events. His work has been exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Imperial War Museum, North.

Mary Rose-Beaumont, Art historian and critic