The British artist Robert Ward is very much part of the important developments made in the field of sculpture in the U.K. since the second half of the 20th century. Since graduating in the late 1960s, Ward has produced a substantial body of work that aside from sculptures for which he is best known, also includes painting and drawing.
Ward’s work displays a preoccupation with abstracted organic forms, clean lines and the relationships between objects. Evolving over several decades of practice, Ward has created something of a short hand for balance and space. His works often display feats of engineering and technical expertise in such an understated way as to be almost invisible. Many of his sculptures are commissions and his often-gargantuan pieces are situated in public spaces all over the world. However, Ward is also adept at producing works on a more intimate scale and it is here where much of his compositional exactitude and wit are displayed.
Almost Equivalent brings together two bronze bells that perform an intriguing balancing act on a structure resembling a barbell formed of two disks of limestone. Bells are employed again in Ding Dong, a bronze sculpture that makes the bells appear at once sonorous and heavy, yet light and delicate. A Dozen Eggs, a sculpture that effectively monumentalises the grocery staple in bronze, is remarkable for its juxtaposition of perfect organic form and mass-produced packing materials.
Ward has exhibited regularly on an internationally level since the early 1970s and has been included in numerous important group exhibitions including: ‘21st Century British Sculpture’, Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy (2002); ‘18@ 108 Bronze’, Royal British Society of Sculptors, London (2006); ‘Concepts for New Sculpture’ at Goodwood, U.K. (2001); ‘Athena Art Awards’, Barbican Art Gallery, London (1986); and the Australian Sculpture Triennale, Melbourne (1981).
Recent solo exhibitions include: Shanghai Sculpture Park, China (2007) for which a retrospective catalogue was published and museums and University Galleries in Germany, (Stadt Museums Werwaltung 2004), the U.S. (Vermont 1998) and Italy (Chiesa di St Agostina, Bergamo 2000 and Villa Grugliasco Parco Culturale in Torino in 2004). His work is in numerous important collections the world over including Newcastle Regional Gallery, Gallery of NSW, Australia, Ferens Art Gallery, Henry Moore Centre for Study of Sculpture, Leeds City Art Gallery, Northern Arts, Ironbridge Museum of Steel Sculpture, Bretton Hall, UK, Arriva, UK, Guilin Yuzi Paradise, China, Gesipa, Germany, Stadt Museum, Waiblingen, Germany, Shanghai Sculpture Park, China ,Chin Pao San Group of Taiwan.
