On The Economist Plaza, Tom Woolford will be exhibiting a new sculpture, Raft 2002. Constructed from various odds and ends collected from the South East coastline, the sculpture will resemble a castaway’s escape vessel.
The design of the craft is influenced by one built and used by hermit and cave-dweller Millican Dalton, whose eccentric existence in the semi-wild environment of the Lake District in the 1930s-40s seemed to be epitomized by his raft. Woolford attempts to challenge the viewers understandings of function and aesthetics by placing his raft in the incongruous ennvironment of St. James’s.
Far away from any substantial body of water, the raft becomes less a symbol of a struggle for survival and more a sign of wilful desire. Woolford lives and works in London and gradutated from the MA Sculpture course at The Royal College of Art in 1998. He has exhibited widely nationally, including EAST Riverside, Norwich (1999) and more recently was selected for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize, London in 2001.
Woolford is currently working on a large-scale commission for the Chiltern Sculpture Trail and will be taking part in Further Up in the Air, Liverpool later this year.