Sited in February 2015 in the Civic Centre foyer is the sculpture Moongate on loan from County Hall Chelmsford to the Art Trust. The work is part of a series commissioned by Chelmsford in 2009 to celebrate the county’s association with Jiangsu Province, China. After visiting China, Davey produced six pieces relating to its temples, gardens and customs. This piece is inspired by garden entrances; the idea of inner and outer spaces and the passage from the real to the imaginary. The subdued colours of red, blue and yellow transform the metal structure into a more organic surface softening the angularity and curve of the circle and leading down to the square wooden plinth which is open grained and cracked.
Grenville Davey won the Turner Prize in 1992 and is now a Professor at the University of East London. He lives and works in Great Yeldham and in 2012 made a work called Inter Alia (between things) a ninety metre long wall for the Queen Elizabeth Gardens in the Olympic Park. Collaborating with Royal College students and members of the public their handprints were pushed into the wet concrete and covered with Davey’s 61 aluminium bronze markers.
The wall is an example of the participation that Grenville Davey encourages; our Moongate invites every viewer to engage with the landscape/townscape by looking through the aperture this work creates.
Leave a Comment!