James Copper

I am a figurative stone carver , who has been involved with sculpture for over 50 years. I was brought up around Henry Moore's studio, visiting from the age of about 18 months old. My work is base on personal emotion, and the creation of the world, mixed up with my main influences, which include the early modernists, Henri Gaudier- Brzeska, Jacob Epstein, Frank Dobson, as well as Moore, all mixed in with antiquity, especially Egyptian carving, and Pre Columbian terracotta's, of which i collect, as well as the animal kingdom. Many of my works have animal, vegetable, or spiritual names. Direct carving is my remit, as i believe in the quality of the drawn line. I feel that if you reach a resolution in a drawing, then you just become a slave to it in it's reproduction in another material. Carving stone is a magical journey. You are interacting, and seeing the world of many millions of years ago. The material that you remove will only ever be seen by yourself. You have to have a dialogue and relationship with your material, it works both ways to keep it alive.