MOVERS & SHAKERS
Daniel Reynolds
Against the bright white backdrop of Daniel Reynolds’ south London studio, located in a charming Victorian cobbled mews, it’s easy to see the playfulness with which the sculptor twists and turns his ‘spaghetti-like’ Rope Abstraction forms and jostles hand-sculpted circles, rectangles, cubes, trapeziums and perforated discs in gently-rotating kinetic mobiles.
While not formally trained in ceramics – ‘I learnt to make moulds literally in an afternoon’s adult education class’ – clay has played an integral role in Daniel’s work since he graduated in the mid-1980s with degrees in sculpture and painting, three-dimensional and furniture design. His porcelain pieces, cast in the shape of man-made objects (plastic bottles, oil cans and teapots) and vegetables, such as the 12 porcelain onion vases he was commissioned to create for Christie’s Dressing the Table: Contemporary Fine Dining auction in January, often take months to make.
For his large sculptural vessels, many made big enough to sit on the floor, Daniel uses the traditional pot building technique of coiling stoneware clay on a non-mechanised turntable then glazes them with naïve geometric patterns. In contrast, the shadow play of his Rope Abstraction sculptures ‘literally massage the eye, keeping you entertained,’ he enthuses. ‘The longer you look at them, the more shapes you see within them because of the layering of one hoop behind another.’
Daniel’s mobiles, which today hang in London’s Ham Yard Hotel and the New Art Centre in Wiltshire, owe much to hours spent as a child, growing up in Caracas, staring up at American sculptor Alexander Calder’s gigantic ‘Floating Clouds’ mobile spread across the ceiling of the Universidad Central de Venezuela’s Aula Magna auditorium. In these, Reynolds intertwines geometric shapes ‘that everyone can relate to,’ he enthuses, while also wanting the colours and shapes of the elements to ‘accentuate elements like the light and breeze filling a room.’ More importantly, he hopes his pieces bring joy. Clients such as Sir Ian Mckellen, James Nesbitt and Kit Kemp certainly think so. ‘It’s important my pieces make them feel good.’ →