Art - Chris Furner

“When I started up my studies I was bringing up a family,” says Chris Furner, the latest artist to exhibit in Seaford’s Crypt Gallery, “So I decided to study architecture, because of the earning potential it offered, though I dearly would have loved to study art and sculpture.” So he became an architect, designing ‘square and angular and linear buildings’. “But I was brought up in East Sussex, and the rolling nature of the Downs and the sea were always with me,” he continues. So he took up sculpture as a sideline, so he cold adapt his creativity to include these forms.

“My sculptures are figurative human figures,” he says. “I generally use Portland stone, which is a very forgiving medium. It enables me to use a lot of different techniques: the result can be rough, or smooth, or figured, or fissured. It looks very solid, but when you get into it you might find a soft patch or a fossil, and you have to work round that. This makes the work very interesting.” He also works using timber pieces and fired clay. “Clay is a completely different process,” he says. “Instead of chipping at a stone you are building a sculpture from nothing. It is quite an intriguing process.” His influences include Anna Mahler (daughter of the Austrian composer). “When I first saw her work something in it moved me, and I hope to evoke a similar emotional response in people.” Something which is difficult to do with architecture? "You need to find the right client for that sort of thing." AL