For David Nash, the simple is complex.
His art is a meditation of the very material from which it is created.
Inspired by minimalism and land art, Nash’s work is a response to the wood itself.
“I have always allowed the material to seduce me. Everything comes from the tree, from its shape and its essence,” admits the artist.
In Two Columns, notice the patterned similarities between each dome, yet each remains unique in its individual form.
“Geometry represents an order in nature or path for me,” he has said.
The work echoes Nash’s lifelong inspirations of nature and geometry.
Nash’s childhood was spent in a rural, ex-mining town in North Wales surrounded by the forests and man-made hills of broken slate.
He returned to the town after completing his education, converting an old Methodist chapel in the center of town into his studio.
There, Nash began to explore wood in an ancient way, sculpting with an ax. Working with the material in a natural state while exposed to the elements, the environment became a resource and collaborator.
This process allows the medium to speak for itself, not only through the rudimentary tools he uses, like the ax and chainsaw, but also through the use of fire and water.
Charring the wood is both practical and conceptual. While fire preserves the wood, it also speaks to its mortality.
The work becomes a reflection of time, forcing us to consider the path of the tree and ourselves. And as Nash reveals, “It is the transformation that makes meaning.”
