Introducing: Patricia Volk

  • WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO PURSUE ART?

    I think it was really where I got my self-esteem, from an early age. It was about the only thing I got praised for in school, as I am severely dyslexic. Even now, answering questions like this is a traumatic task for me! I was always good at maths but got castigated for being bad at English. It has stayed with me. As a result, I didn’t feel confident enough to pursue art and go to art school until I was in my late thirties. I still find it remarkable I have achieved what I’ve achieved - as an RWA academician and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Sculptors - without any formal qualifications.

  • Why are you drawn to clay as a medium?

    I like the control over clay. If I don’t like what I have done it can be disposed of and recycled. I can constantly be trying things out and pushing the material to the limit. Clay is very much hands-on. Very few tools are required. It’s a simple process that doesn’t depend on other people. I am not interested in glazes or the ceramic tradition. I am much more influenced by American sculptors like Ken Price who notably call their work “painted fired clay”. Again, with the painted surface I can change my mind constantly rather than being tied down to the scientific side of glazes.

  • What is the significance of colour in your work?

    I always look into the symbolic meaning of colours – for instance the iconography of the Virgin Mary – but then again, for me it is entirely instinctive. I like the idea of the setting of a garden where a sudden bright intrusion of colour “pops”. Some people think materials should be kept naturalistic and “fit in with the surroundings” but in antiquity both sculptures and buildings were highly painted. What really got me into colour was a trip to America and seeing how open the sculpture was – they didn’t stick to a set regime. I want my pieces to tell me their colour, not to enforce it, and there’s a bolshy irreverence and excitement in that.

  • Who or what influences your work the most?

    I can be influenced by the latest exhibition I saw, or two colours juxtaposed in an advert in a magazine. It comes from everywhere and sometimes you are not sure where it comes from. Sometimes you might realise years later what a piece was really about that you can’t see at the time of making it.

     

    An artist who had a big impact recently was Eduardo Chillida. I saw his exhibition at Hauser & Wirth and was particularly moved by the short film of him working with his

    technicians who wanted a piece perfect, but he resisted, saying there is no such thing as perfection. He liked the imperfections caused by pushing the material to the extreme. I like to create things that look as if they shouldn’t stand up, but they do. Defying gravity and the forces of nature.

  • WHAT'S ON THE HORIZON WITH YOUR WORK?

    I want to retain a sense of play and pushing the limits in abstract form, but also promoting the essence of physical ties and bonds – the juxtaposition of things that hold us together and push us apart as human beings