Sculptures of intensity (From Stroud News and Journal)

Sculptures of intensity

A NEW exhibition of bronze sculptures by Terence Coventry opens at Gallery Pangolin in the grounds of the renowned foundry in Chalford this week.

It is five years since Coventry's last one-man show and sculpture is now the sole focus of his creative energy.

This new body of work is charged with a new intensity reflected in the breadth and vigour of his imagery.

Intimately linked to his rugged Cornish landscape and its creatures, Coventry distils and refines his familiar everyday subjects, bulls, boars, dogs and birds, into powerful and monumental images that have a connection in all of us.

Jackdaws on Chimney is a trio of angular avian forms, delicately perched on a precarious rim.

Their balanced geometric bodies interact with purpose, tension and rhythmic poise.

Boar II is a thrusting wedge-shaped form, a powerful creature honed down to essential elements.

The boar, bursting with masculine strength, is monumental in stature and echoes the magic of prehistoric beasts.

Choughs are the symbol of Coventry's Cornwall and a recent return to his native cliff-tops.

The interplay of beaks, wings and tail-feathers is captured as they spar on a ridge tile, acrobatic and energetic, their resurgence perhaps reflects Coventry's own creative renewal.

Standing Hound Animals have always been central to Terence Coventry's life and work.

Like Hound II and Lying Hound, Standing Hound, instantly recognisable, undeniably represents the age-old relationship between man and beast. The exhibition runs from Monday, April 10 to May 19.

Gallery Pangolin is open Monday to Friday between 10am and 6pm and Saturday by appointment.