Auke de Vries

When I was Bury Art Gallery the other week, I saw a 'maquette' of a sculpture in Burrs Country Park.  I had to google what that meant and found out it is a 'sculptor's small preliminary model or sketch'.  It was a strange looking object so I thought I would have a trip there today - and it's huge!  Much bigger than I imagined.

The sculpture is sited on the remains of Burrs Mill, built to spin cotton by the Peel family in the 1790's, but which became a bleach works in the 1880's.  Burrs is one of Bury's earliest industrial sites, notable for its exploitation of water power and its association with the Peel family.

Created by one of Europe's leading artists, Auke de Vries, the sculpture is one of the later additions to the Irwell Sculpture Trail.  Auke de Vries is from Holland and has three significant sculptures at the entrance of the European Courts of Justice in The Hague.

The sculpture is called 'Untitled', like many of his pieces, and the foundation of the artwork is sited upon an original anchor system of the engine bed.  I'm really not sure what it depicts but it's certainly modern and pretty random - and I'm a fan of random!

Quote for today:
Sculpture is what you bump into when you back up to see a painting.
- Barnett Newman

PS. This is exactly what happened to me in the art gallery when I saw the model of the sculpture!!!