Page 45 - Studio International - September 1965

Peter Startup

3 + 4 unreal, exaggerated shapes 'touch off something in forms, is the result of greater economy. the elimination
Metamorphic Forms No. 3
Ash. Yew & Brass one's experience. I would like to feel that I can find of extraneous detail.
Two views of Stage I shapes which do this.' The new series bears the generic title Metamorphic
90 in. High
18 in. Wide Before beginning a new work he makes only the most Images. Whilst to some extent all art is the result of
elementary sketches although he starts with an image metamorphosis, the name is appropriate. Not only are
5 + 6
Metamorphic Forms No. 3 of sorts, which changes and develops in the process of they transformations of shapes from the background of
Two views of Stage II making. The wood is cut into shapes and put together, our urban lives, to which the artist is especially
but not fixed. The final statement is the relationship sensitive, the sculptures themselves undergo internal
between these different shapes, a process of gradual transformations-before our eyes! They are made in
re-adjustment. 'I am happy when what I finally end hard, handsome woods-pine, mahogany, teak. Whilst
up with expresses the mood I want to transmit. It's he no longer uses paint, coloured formica is occasion­
never exactly the form I imagined; in fact, I find them ally incorporated and areas of wood are sometimes
more surprising as they evolve. If you work, as I do, bleached. The only additional material are broad bands
for a long time on each sculpture, the final form can of leather, which act as hinges for the interchangeable
never be premeditated. Each work affects the next­ sections. One of the most elaborate structures has three
is a variation, a step further from what went before.' positions. On a central column made of mahogany and
One cannot pin down the 'idea· of these sculptures; pine, in Stage 1 two free elements hang from an
they are concepts which only evolve as the work elaborately-made sledge-shape; in Stage 2 one of the
develops, as much in the carpentry of the different parts hanging sections is brought up to fit over this shape,
as the brilliant organisation of the whole. The shapes making a flat, head-like form; and in the final Stage,
are never simple. although the new sculpture is smaller the second hanging piece rests on top of the 'head' as
and more positive than earlier work. They are also a disturbing gesture. In each variation echoes of
more complex and more compressed, having discarded African sculpture are recognisable. In all its stages.
purely decorative elements, including colour, and no and indeed in all the recent sculpture, the craftsmanship,
emotional quality of the works, with their thrusting all contribute to the impressiveness of the whole. ■
longer depend on clever craftsmanship. The heightened the purity of line, and the beauty of the materials,

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