Press cuttings

While Jerwood sculpture prize nominee Richard Trupp reveals a penchant for large-scale industrial techniques, it’s the rich embodiment of historical references that makes his work truly monumental.

When he’s not working hard on his next ambitious design, Richard teaches on the prestigious sculpture course at Kingston University. jotta met up with him there to discover the hiding place for this sculptor’s personal answer to the recession. A wealth of steel exploring sculptural language and scale, ‘Credit Crunch’ plays with the irony of fluctuating steel prices-the piece itself representing wedges of cash in the uncertain state of the world economy.

The first time i call Richard Trupp to arrange a meeting, he has his hands in plaster. The second time, he's pouring a bronze. 'It's a hazard of the job', he laughs. At the moment, he's absorbed by a new piece - based on Vulcanus, Roman god of the forge - using bronze and vulcanized rubber. 'i'm like a dog after a bone once i start the creative process,' he admits.

He's been this way since he was a kid, when he built things with cereal boxes, tape and glue.

It was the reaction to Antony Gormley's Iron Man in Trupp's native Birmingham that convinced him scuplture was his art form: 'I loved the way it was so divisive'.

He's at pains to point out that he's not a designer. 'its a hands-on thing i do. I want those spontaneous things that happen, those moments of magic'.

Considering Trupp was shortlisted for the 2001 Jerwood Sculpture Prize, had residency with art collective Metal, and is highly rated by sculptor Sir Anthony Caro, we think there will be plenty more magic moment to come.

Lucy Siegle

A simple but striking concept. The Massive cast iron bolt heads are attached to sheet steel and the surfaces have oxidised to a rich brown color allowing the viewer a close up experience of the untreated metal surface. This is a site specific piece. By bringing such large steel contructions, which one might otherwise only experience in the structure of a bridge or ship, into an indoor enviroment, the power and strenght of the steel, and specifically the bolt heads and their ability to hold together gigantic forces, become a tangible experience.

John Plowman - Sculptors Bible

Artist’s work is so uplifting

Gateshead has the Angel of the North, now Suffolk has the Wingfield Wedge. It is a new free-standing  steel sculpture which looks as if it is lifting up a print workshop and music rehearsal rooms at the College  Yard, Wingfield.

It has been created by Richard Trupp, one of the country’s leading young artist. The work was designed by Richard following a visit to Wingfield Arts’ College Yard headquarters. He said: “What I love is to play with notions of scale. I wanted to create something that made the rest of the buildings look like they were part of a model.”

The sculpture is the first of six commissioned pieces which wil be delivered to the College Yard soon. They form part of a £100,000 project funded by the Arts Council and European Funding as part of Wingfield Arts’ development programme.