ArchiveExhibition
David Nash: Full Circle
19 Feb-5 Jun 2022
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Wakefield WF4 4LG
David Nash, Red Tree, 2021. Credit: Photo by Jonty Wilde
Overview
David Nash has dedicated his artistic life to an evolving study of trees and wood. This exhibition in The Weston Gallery is dedicated to his drawings inspired by trees, from the observational and documentary, through to intensely coloured, abstract works that capture their life force.
Nash’s association with YSP began over 40 years ago and Full Circle marks an affinity between artist and organisation. In the early 1980s, he wrote in a letter to YSP: “environment and ecology are a first consideration for me as an artist”. This prescient, enduring occupation with the intersection of nature, art and humanity, makes Nash’s work ever more pertinent as we address the climate crisis.
Drawing is as central in Nash’s practice as the trees it grows from. Works in The Weston Gallery, many of which have never been exhibited before, will be enlivened by the natural light and landscape views. Over 50 drawings from the 1970s to the present day reflect different processes and types of mark-making, from fine graphite lines to thick charcoal strokes, and bold swathes of pure pigment.
In the Bothy Gallery, films, archival photographs and works on paper will chart Nash’s creative partnership with YSP, and a reconsideration of his site-specific works made between 1981 and 2013 is enabled through a circular walk linking the two galleries.
A publication will feature a conversation between Nash and YSP’s Founding Director, Peter Murray, who will retire in 2022 – a perfect opportunity to reflect on a connection that has developed over four decades.
