Cast

Kate Hobby's 'Wool' sculpture

Sculpture is sometimes in the shadow of painting : can’t express as much, maybe, or not quite as conceptual in these idea-driven times. But scratch the surface and a new wave of young, dynamic sculptors are –literally – blazing a trail with their love of furnaces, fire and molten metal and creating new and exciting work in iron, bronze and aluminium. One charismatic collective is the aptly named Cast – Tim O’Carroll, Stephen Coles, Kate Hobby and Bobby Zokaites - recent graduates who work together at Steve’s iron furnace in Dorset to burn ores then make their own sculptures and installations. They have their first exhibition in London next week. Loma-Ann Marks met Tim, Stephen and Kate and learnt why the very physical, unpredictable and organic process makes metal the new must-have.

Loma : What’s the attraction of working in metal?
Stephen: It can be explosive.. literally.
Tim: I want to find out how the different metals work together to create a piece of art.
Kate: The majority of my work is a reaction to a place or situation. So I’ll find pieces around the studio and make them into something new.
Stephen: For me it’s about primitivism, archaic doctrines. The nature of the materials lend themselves to these subjects.
Tim: All our work is concerned with different things. But no one person’s piece can be made on their own. Steve needs someone to help pour the metal into the furnace, I’ve got none of his kit.
Kate: We need each other. It takes four people to help with the pouring of the metal. It’s about communicating, you get to know and trust each other.
Loma: Where do you get the metal from?
Kate : I pull things out of ditches, or find them in the landscape around my studio. It is recycling, transforming one thing into something else.
Tim: Drainpipes are good and iron bathtubs are brilliant, and surprisingly easy to find.
Loma: And then you all get together round the furnace….
Stephen: There’s a real community spirit about it, artists come and help with the manual labour, then make whatever it is they want to do.
Kate: Everyone pours on a Friday or Saturday night, then goes out drinking afterwards. And you get to wear leather!
Stephen: It’s the only process in the arts community that is so organic, and so collective.
Loma: Does anything ever go wrong?
Kate: Frequently!  These furnaces are scaled down versions of the big industrial kit.
Stephen: The biggest thing to go wrong is you get a cold spot.
Kate : Had that last weekend…
Stephen: What you’re doing is baking coal on fire, then cold air keeps the fire lit,  but the iron can chill then block the furnace.
Kate: The very first pour I did the furnace breached and we had metal spewing out everywhere.
Loma: Sounds dangerous..
Kate: It’s a very physical thing and there’s real respect for the process.
Tim : There’s like this constant conversation with the material. You want to mould the shape and it will give and do what you want. But then it will do its own thing in the mould. It’s like a relationship!
Kate: That’s what keeps it exciting. You never know what you’re going to get. The metal throws up surprises. It keeps you on your toes.
Stephen: And it’s cheap…. iron as a medium. You can do all sorts with it, even performance pieces. I’ve done experiments with diesel, petrol, oil…
Kate: It’s beautiful. When iron come out of the furnace,  it’s like a huge orange jet, lights up.
Tim: People may think iron is a dirty word.. it’s not gold or silver. But it’s beautiful when it’s red hot, when it’s rusted and when it’s polished.
Kate: It’s the core of our earth. There’s a real history to it.  And once it’s going it takes a fair bit to stop it.
Tim: Bronze is stunning too
Stephen: And aluminium
Kate: I hate aluminium
Stephen: When it’s in a ladle it has a pinkish hue, like a mirror. And it’s easier to control. Can pour it into a wooden mould and it won’t burn the wood out.
Loma: Sounds like the process is as important as the finished piece.
Stephen: But we don’t cast for the sake of it. In the US it’s really popular to get together round a furnace and film the whole thing, usually to a heavy rock soundtrack. They’re there for the fire, not for the art. These films are all over YouTube,  but they’re nothing to do with us.
Kate: We’re far more civilised.

Cast  Contemporary Scultpture Exhibition: Same Material, Different Work, Shoreditch Town Hall Basement, 380 Old Street, London, EC1V 9LT,  23rd - 25th July, 8am-6pm.

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