Were this post to be about Lord Carrington it would be jolly long and, I like to think, of absorbing interest. In fact I’m going to read his memoir, Reflect on Things Past, published in 1988 by Collins. Soldier, politician, statesman does not do him justice. He is a patron of the arts – I have seen him at Garsington opera – and he is going to introduce the subject of today’s arty post.
“I first met Paul Vanstone when he was a student at the Royal College of Art. My wife and I were just starting a Sculpture Garden and had no sculptures and I asked the Professor to bring down four of his most talented students to lunch. Paul Vanstone was one of them and I commissioned two pieces from him for the garden. He seemed to me to have great potential as a sculptor and so he has proved. He has gone from strength to strength and I am glad to think that I was perceptive enough to recognise it.” (Lord Carrington, May 2005)
I first saw Paul’s work at a contemporary art fair in Islington and was as enthusiastic as Lord Carrington. I found his studio on the Harrow Road one March morning and saw the work he had been producing over the winter, that would shortly be distributed to galleries around the country. This is what I chose.
He has used ruby-veined onyx from Iran to create a modern riff on a classical form. I chose a limestone base. It is substantial and Paul brought two assistants to help him install it. A couple of times a year I give her, her name is Ruby, a polish with Pamir wax to protect her from rain and pollution. It is a good way to get to know a sculpture.
If you’d like to see Paul’s work in rather an agreeable setting, make a note in your diary to visit Asthall Manor in the Windrush valley for on form the only exhibition in the UK devoted only to stone sculpture. It runs from Sunday 12th June until Sunday 10th July this year. Here is a picture taken at his studio and underneath is Asthall Manor, in Oxfordshire.
