Biography
1949 Born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
1968-69 Art Foundation year - High Wycombe college of Art and Technology
1969-72 Diploma in Art and Design BA course - Coventry University. Studied under among others Terry Atkinson & Mike Baldwin (Art of Language
Press)
1972-73 Hornsey College of Art post graduate course
1972-2005 Taught art and design in high schools and adult education
2005-present Full-time artist
Member of Norwich 20 group and Norfolk Contemporary Arts Soc.
Notes about Me
I was at art college at Coventry during the 1970s, a time when conceptualism was challenging the substance and value of traditional art. Although able to appreciate what were then the controversial and radical ideas associated with art and language, I was a practical person at heart who needed to apply my ideas to real objects. The college tutors divided and separated themselves on four floors : Painting on the top floor, Art and Language and Graphics on the middle floors and Sculpture in the basement. I was a student who worked mainly between the sculpture and art and language areas. I found that I needed to question, evaluate, and appreciate traditional and contemporary ideas but also wanted to combine these ideas with sculptural and conceptual skills. I continue to work in this way.
Having left college I taught in high schools where I appreciated the value of developing ideas and inspiring others to create and evolve their own work. During this period I pursued my own artistic ideas in my spare time realising that every piece I worked on had a hidden door somewhere into a new idea.
To me being an artist is more than just producing pieces of art, it is about developing a personal language which I can use to make sense of the things in life that interest me.
After taking early retirement in 2005 I was able to work full time as an artist. For five years I painted and was fascinated with the film “Wings of Desire” which became the inspiration and starting point for my subsequent work. In 2010 I took these ideas into sculpture and as I worked I became aware of the different elements that I needed to produce a thoughtful and coherent body of work.
I believe my three different areas of thought and practice are : subject matter, techniques/materials and idea development. Being inspired by interesting subject matter provides a starting point for my subsequent exploration. Having the necessary practical and aesthetic skills to understand and work with various techniques and materials allows me to realise my ideas. Understanding how to develop these ideas brings subject matter, materials and techniques together as a process. This in turn gives flow and provides change and progression in my work whilst maintaining its particular character.
My work is guided mainly by intuition and an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the materials at my disposal. For example as I worked I became more aware that wood is a very spiritual material, it has lived, and the energy of its life is in its growth pattern and grain. Steel has more strength and resilience which makes it difficult to shape but these constraints produce a whole new set of visual possibilities. When combined with other materials such as cement even more possibilities present themselves.
Techniques are not everything though, ideas and feelings are also important and the power and excitement of art is an expression of both technique and ideas.
As I work over time my ideas develop between different themes and topics and often return and combine with my current ideas. Often I start the day with the vaguest of plans, I go through periods of self doubt but I persevere, working with materials and from somewhere in the ether little idea openings arrive, sparks of inspiration ignite bigger ideas and before I know it I am in a state of exhilaration. When I work on a piece it is like reading a really good novel, I want to read it but at the same time I don’t want it to end.
Having left college I taught in high schools where I appreciated the value of developing ideas and inspiring others to create and evolve their own work. During this period I pursued my own artistic ideas in my spare time realising that every piece I worked on had a hidden door somewhere into a new idea.
To me being an artist is more than just producing pieces of art, it is about developing a personal language which I can use to make sense of the things in life that interest me.
After taking early retirement in 2005 I was able to work full time as an artist. For five years I painted and was fascinated with the film “Wings of Desire” which became the inspiration and starting point for my subsequent work. In 2010 I took these ideas into sculpture and as I worked I became aware of the different elements that I needed to produce a thoughtful and coherent body of work.
I believe my three different areas of thought and practice are : subject matter, techniques/materials and idea development. Being inspired by interesting subject matter provides a starting point for my subsequent exploration. Having the necessary practical and aesthetic skills to understand and work with various techniques and materials allows me to realise my ideas. Understanding how to develop these ideas brings subject matter, materials and techniques together as a process. This in turn gives flow and provides change and progression in my work whilst maintaining its particular character.
My work is guided mainly by intuition and an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the materials at my disposal. For example as I worked I became more aware that wood is a very spiritual material, it has lived, and the energy of its life is in its growth pattern and grain. Steel has more strength and resilience which makes it difficult to shape but these constraints produce a whole new set of visual possibilities. When combined with other materials such as cement even more possibilities present themselves.
Techniques are not everything though, ideas and feelings are also important and the power and excitement of art is an expression of both technique and ideas.
As I work over time my ideas develop between different themes and topics and often return and combine with my current ideas. Often I start the day with the vaguest of plans, I go through periods of self doubt but I persevere, working with materials and from somewhere in the ether little idea openings arrive, sparks of inspiration ignite bigger ideas and before I know it I am in a state of exhilaration. When I work on a piece it is like reading a really good novel, I want to read it but at the same time I don’t want it to end.
My Work
Post-War Angels
I was and still am fascinated by Wim Wender’s film ‘Wings of Desire’ and developed a series of drawings, paintings and sculptures which explore the essence of the film. The story is set in a bleak post-war Berlin where immortal angels exist in a hopeless, monochromatic world, roaming the city, invisibly comforting those in despair. Dressed in long, dark overcoats they often look down from high architectural vantage points, generally feeling compassion for the sadness of the city’s inhabitants.
One particular angel develops a love for an impoverished trapeze artist who performs in a small, rundown circus. He chooses to give up his angelic existence to become mortal so that he can experience human sensory pleasure, from enjoying food to touching and discovering human love. However he also discovers hunger, pain, the necessity for sleep and the need to survive.
As I developed my sculptures I evolved a better appreciation of how emotion can be conveyed and aspects of subtle facial expression and gesture became increasingly relevant. I then began to explore ways to create actual movement in my work, using mechanisms to animate and express the presence of an angelic being.
I find that as my ideas change, aspects of this period of my work influence me and reappear in later pieces.
I was and still am fascinated by Wim Wender’s film ‘Wings of Desire’ and developed a series of drawings, paintings and sculptures which explore the essence of the film. The story is set in a bleak post-war Berlin where immortal angels exist in a hopeless, monochromatic world, roaming the city, invisibly comforting those in despair. Dressed in long, dark overcoats they often look down from high architectural vantage points, generally feeling compassion for the sadness of the city’s inhabitants.
One particular angel develops a love for an impoverished trapeze artist who performs in a small, rundown circus. He chooses to give up his angelic existence to become mortal so that he can experience human sensory pleasure, from enjoying food to touching and discovering human love. However he also discovers hunger, pain, the necessity for sleep and the need to survive.
As I developed my sculptures I evolved a better appreciation of how emotion can be conveyed and aspects of subtle facial expression and gesture became increasingly relevant. I then began to explore ways to create actual movement in my work, using mechanisms to animate and express the presence of an angelic being.
I find that as my ideas change, aspects of this period of my work influence me and reappear in later pieces.
Angelic Armour
On becoming mortal the angel pawns his heavenly armour which is now subject to decay and corrosion and becomes a metaphor for existence.
Secular Existence
I found that as my depiction of the character developed I was able to steer the plot in different directions. This section explores the social and circus skills that I imagine he might have needed to learn, in order to make a living and be with the circus performer.
Soul Clouds
Many cultures believe that the spirit or soul continues to exist in different realms. Often boats, chariots or clouds transport the soul to the afterlife. Developing this idea that existence is part of a continuing journey, I wanted to produce a celestial vessel which encapsulates and transports the essence of a person through different existences.
The rudders, constructed from discarded and eroded objects, found by the sea, suggest some control over direction.
The rudders, constructed from discarded and eroded objects, found by the sea, suggest some control over direction.
Resting Places
Any ornithologist will recognise the envy we often feel when we observe the freedom of flight experienced by birds. Culturally they have recurrently inspired various myths and legends. They have been used as symbols of mystery, freedom and fear. In these pieces I wanted to relate the innocence and resilience of birds to the qualities we associate with angels. I also wanted to show how they adapt and accept unnatural structures in a similar way to our own acceptance of destructive commercial change. To this end I sometimes humanise the birds often travelling over piers which are like bridges to nowhere.
Plastic, People, Fish and Birds
Just as an angel, who might suddenly experience the realities of corporeal existence, would have a sense of concern and confusion, I feel that many of us today are overwhelmed by the complexities of pace and change we experience. Our overuse of plastic, which is overwhelming the natural world causing catastrophic damage, is one area of particular concern to me. These sculptures show the burden upon humanity and the rest of the living world that plastic waste creates.
Although the message is grim, plastic is essentially a versatile and attractive material when used responsibly.
Although the message is grim, plastic is essentially a versatile and attractive material when used responsibly.
Karma, Plant and Animal Feelings
In a world where we are conditioned to operate as consumers in competitive situations, we tend to think of the natural world as a separate entity to ourselves. We often empathise less with animals and even less with plants than we do with humanity. In these pieces I wanted to show how the thoughtless cruelty and destruction which we inflict upon innocent animals will eventually be an appalling memory.
These Karma pieces suggest how we, as humans, might feel if the same commercial conditions that we impose upon animals were used against us.
These Karma pieces suggest how we, as humans, might feel if the same commercial conditions that we impose upon animals were used against us.
Permutations of Evolution
The evolutionary changes to different species as well as the earth as a whole is mostly observed as a slow and subtle process. However, with our greed and consumerism, we have accelerated this process which is now out of control. This recent work looks at how we, as instigators of change, are involuntarily playing with and forcing the process of evolution.
On a lighter note though I do like thinking about the part luck, chance and timing play in the process of making a sculpture.
On a lighter note though I do like thinking about the part luck, chance and timing play in the process of making a sculpture.
Reviews
Felicity Hemmant director of the Anteros Arts Foundation in Norwich wrote about Rob's work in the 'Meeting with Myself' exhibition at St Peter Mancroft Church in 2019.
"Artist Rob Woods uses white androgynous faces in all of his artworks. He was initially inspired by the film 'Wings of Desire' in which invisible angels offer solace and comfort to people living in post-war Berlin. In the film Damiel, an angel, eventually trades his immortality so that he can be with Marion, a trapeze artist with whom he has fallen in love.
For Rob, the angel motif has become vehicle for conducting thought experiments exploring empathy and compassion. Displayed here are two such examples 'All the Wars of the World can be Felt in a Single Mind' and 'When I Look in a Mirror, All I See is Someone Else Looking Confused'. Here the scaffolding represents the prevailing wisdoms of our time and our own thoughts. These two elements meld together and build year on year, underlying and slowly transforming our identities."
