Richard Southall
Approach
Richard's
passion for wildlife and the environment, especially wilderness regions, has lead
him to begin his exploration of the natural habitat of his subjects. A recent
voyage to the Sea of Cortez provided a valuable opportunity for him to study whales
and the wide diversity of creatures that inhabit the remote desert islands of
the Baja peninsula.
His work is clearly different in style from that of other sculptors, most notably he has purposely avoided the obvious "animals in motion" formula and the loose less-defined modeling that characterises many contemporary wildlife artists. He creates form through an intense study of the creature at hand. Suggesting a slower, even stationary pose can more effectively portray a dynamic of movement in the onlooker's mind.
Unique to the artist is his subject range and diversity of style, Richard is not only an accomplished figurative portrait sculpture and wildlife artist, but has also produced a number of extraordinary contemporary sculptural pieces, his animal studies cover the whole spectrum from bronzes to gallery filling installation works based on life size whales.
Study is seen as crucial to his art. He can be found almost daily developing his drawing skills in the natural history section of Bristol's Clifton Museum. Often the marketing side of his work is placed in a secondary position, whilst new avenues of sculpture are explored. Only recently is this long artistic apprenticeship finding its way into public view.
Current work has seen an almost exclusive study of cheetahs. Half-life and life size animals are now ready for exhibition.
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