Peter Randall-Page to give lecture and unveil sculpture

Published On Tue 6 May 2014 by Grant Hill

One of the UK’s foremost sculptors will next week deliver a public lecture about his work before unveiling a sculpture at the University of Dundee.

Peter Randall-Page has been highly acclaimed for large sculptural works sited in galleries and public spaces around the UK and in many other countries including the USA, Australia, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands.

His practice has always been informed and inspired by the study of natural phenomena, and particularly with the underlying principles determining growth patterns in nature, having been greatly inspired by his discovery of the work of Dundee-based biologist D’Arcy Thompson while a student at Bath Academy of Art. 

He said, “Geometry is the theme on which nature plays her infinite variations, fundamental mathematical principle become a kind of pattern book from which nature constructs the most complex and sophisticated structures.”

As part of a project funded by the Art Fund (and with additional funding from the National Fund for Acquisitions) the University of Dundee Museum Services have acquired an important work by Peter called ‘In the Beginning’, inspired by the multiplication of cells.

Curator Matthew Jarron said, “The sculpture is made from Kilkenny limestone which has an extraordinary quality - although it looks rough it is actually as smooth as marble, and contains numerous fossils. Although it’s actually symmetrical, the work seems to take on new shapes as one moves around it, giving it an organic feel which links nicely to D’Arcy Thompson’s ideas.”

Peter will be giving a lecture about his work and his interest in natural patterns at 5.30pm on Monday, 12th May in the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre in the University’s Tower Building. Visitors will then be invited to view the sculpture, which can be seen in the modern link entrance that unites the Carnelley Building and the Old Medical School.

The lecture is a prelude to a major exhibition featuring artworks acquired through the D’Arcy Thompson Art Fund project, to be staged in the Tower Foyer and Lamb Galleries starting on 31st May.

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Grant Hill
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University of Dundee
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Email: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk