20 July – 4 August 2012
Preview: 19 July 18.00 – 21.00
Artist’s talk: 26 July 18.00
The Craft of Art is an exhibition of work created by visual artist Adrian Jeans during his 12 month residency at Metal, Edge Hill Station. The artwork informed by Victorian art practices and the technicalities of figurative sculpting is an uncanny life-like portrait of renowned Liverpool life model  Sue Lee. Entitled ‘Applied Meaning: An Allegory of Death & Destruction and an Allegory of Life & Creation’ the artwork comprises of two identical plaster casts of a life-sized and life-modelled human figure posed on a pile of building rubble taken from the on-going demolition/regeneration of the  Kensington area in Liverpool where the artist lives.
Adrian Jeans uses a single figure to represent two opposing ideas – the positive and negative aspects of the highly divisive erase and rebuild type of regeneration happening in deprived inner city areas such as Kensington, Liverpool, by adding different symbols to each sculpture. The sculptures are also combined with the practice of portraiture, an art form normally judged on its ability to capture an individual’s character.
When creating the work Jeans turned the normally private processes into a public performance inviting visitors to Metal to witness the craftsmanship and technical mould making process in its various stages. Photographer Alan McKernan made a series of images, also called The Craft of Art, which capture an impression of the complex procedures involved in this sculptural endeavour and which will be exhibited alongside the two figures.
For more information please contact Jodie Mellor, jodie@metalculture.com, [0151] Â 7072277
