'There is something so entirely singular about staring at a block of stone and having it stare back at you. You are about to carve each other. It is not steel or clay. You cannot cut and weld, you cannot add. You cannot change your mind. You can only subtract what it does not need. It only needs you. Then, you are interchangeable.'
After studying at Epsom School of Art and Design, Jonathan Loxley began his career in the film industry, creating sculpture and landscapes for feature films such as Labyrinth and A Fish Called Wanda, which is where he initially developed his skill for figurative sculpture.
On taking a break to carve marble in Carrara, Italy, Jonathan became enamoured with stone and spent a further 9 years in Carrara developing his practice. He cultivated a relationship with stone and was fascinated by exploring its character: how it best yielded to chisel and hammer, pushing the material to its limits. His work became more abstract and essentialised, as Jonathan focused on geometry, form, and shape.
Jonathan is equally at home with abstract or figurative work. With 20 years of studying form, anatomy, and geometry behind him, he can perfectly instil the essence of a living creature in stone. The process is about working with the stone instead of forcing a form upon it. Jonathan will often mark out a shape on a section of marble, return to study the anatomy of the creature he wishes to carve, and then come back to the marble, to see whether the two will work together.
His career’s three stages of interrogation - figurative, geometric, figurative – has ensured that his work has come full circle whilst being enriched and enhanced by the stages that came before.
Jonathan Loxley’s work has been exhibited internationally in places such as Amsterdam, Milan, Vienna, Cologne, Hong Kong, and Texas, as well as in parks and private collections all over Britain. He has been included in several prolific exhibitions, including On Form and The Cass Sculpture Foundation.
On taking a break to carve marble in Carrara, Italy, Jonathan became enamoured with stone and spent a further 9 years in Carrara developing his practice. He cultivated a relationship with stone and was fascinated by exploring its character: how it best yielded to chisel and hammer, pushing the material to its limits. His work became more abstract and essentialised, as Jonathan focused on geometry, form, and shape.
Jonathan is equally at home with abstract or figurative work. With 20 years of studying form, anatomy, and geometry behind him, he can perfectly instil the essence of a living creature in stone. The process is about working with the stone instead of forcing a form upon it. Jonathan will often mark out a shape on a section of marble, return to study the anatomy of the creature he wishes to carve, and then come back to the marble, to see whether the two will work together.
His career’s three stages of interrogation - figurative, geometric, figurative – has ensured that his work has come full circle whilst being enriched and enhanced by the stages that came before.
Jonathan Loxley’s work has been exhibited internationally in places such as Amsterdam, Milan, Vienna, Cologne, Hong Kong, and Texas, as well as in parks and private collections all over Britain. He has been included in several prolific exhibitions, including On Form and The Cass Sculpture Foundation.
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