Womb, bath, cradle shadow on an ultrasound a caul holding dark promise
cradle, bowl, bath damp child slips through your fingers hides his growing body from you
bath, boat, chair adrift in a lake of thought soaking love-pains away
chair, cradle, shell prise off the carapace whisper in the tiny ears
shell, boat, cradle so scared, the crossed feet cover his balls, knees protect the heart
cradle, casket, boat head rises from his strong neck, full of dreams, flies in amber
boat, casket, tomb once-loved lump of a man lost in ash-coloured light
tomb, cradle, womb
Vessel by Jenny Mayor
The work in this exhibition constitutes an exploration of form and meaning inextricably intertwined. Wallace speculates on the individual conduct of life by way of sculptures and drawings which evoke the rites of passage. The personal odyssey of existence is alluded to in images of pared-down energy and simplicity.
Andrew Lambirth
Translation and transformation are what this show is about . What is seen is linked to what is felt. The artist asks himself, not merely ‘What do I see?’ but ‘How do I react to what I see’, and then tries to make a single artistic statement which will convincingly answer both these questions simultaneously.
Edward Lucie Smith
The spherical or oval forms, reduced to the essence of their humanity and to the brink of pure abstraction [a clear echo of Brancusi here].
Andrew Lambirth
Instead of depicting a complete body, Wallace chooses to show us only the head – the individual in microcosm. It is a theme he investigates further in crisply carved Portland stone, or in cast and polished pewter. Wallace varies his imagery from the more obviously naturalistic to the more abstract and helmet-like.
….with small sculptures of rare intimacy and presence… these small pieces are made for the hand and need to be touched and held.
Andrew Lambirth
Wallace is clearly aiming for a massive – yet at the same time modest – simplicity, an archaic quality associated with the sculptures of ancient Greece.
Andrew Lambirth
He mounts the five etching plates in heavy pewter surrounds as floor sculptures, all reflecting torsoes and highlights. [These are the Navigator series, which complement and extend earlier Journeyman series.] Andrew Lambirth
Wallace chimes serenity of spirit with the supreme tactility of the materials he uses – whether it be the suave textures of carved Portland stone, the silky smoothness of cast pewter, or the coarser grain of bronze. His has a haptic understanding which demands a physical as well as an intellectual response.
Andrew Lambirth
Another accomplished realist sculptor is Andre Wallace…. his little personages are presented in such a way that it almost seems as if we are looking at them through the wrong end of a telescope.
Edward Lucie Smith
Wallace’s work holds something in common with the work of Aristide Maillol and Frank Dobson. Undoubtedly, Wallace’s large- scale work has a heroism and monumentality, a relaxed classicsm, that both these sculptors evinced. There is evident in the work of all three a similar poise, confidence, and above all, formal clarity.
Andrew Lambirth
The Boating series could just be about people in boats, but the work has classical references, to the Boatman taking people along the river of life or the Ferryman who transports from this world to the next.
Sue O’Brien
