Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre is currently showcasing a major solo exhibition by British sculptor and disability rights activist, Tony Heaton OBE.
‘altered’ explores Tony Heaton’s sculptural practice from his early work including his activism and initiation of the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive to more recent work including direct stone carving, establishing his position in the wider art historical context.
Using a direct carving technique, Heaton has created pieces in Carrara marble, including works based on the POLO mint – magnified to the size of a car wheel.
It’s called Suite: Fruits and it’s not just the marble POLO but a group of bold and brightly coloured ones too. Carved in Italy, the inspiration was “a re-discovered friendship”, returning to Tony’s interest in the circular and cyclical.
The exhibition also includes Heaton’s stone carvings of marble people sitting on benches – ‘ZenMen‘ – made all the more interesting by the fact that the bench itself doesn’t have legs, but it is the naked seated figures who are supporting themselves.
altered will be on at the Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre until 25th June 2022
