21st September - 28th October 2000

Darren Lago
"7 x 5 = Sculptures"

This is the first major exhibition of the sculpture of Darren Lago in our fourth floor gallery.

"7 x 5" refers to seven new sculptures shown and a selection from 28 earlier works which add up to his age of 35.

Our daily lives are influenced by what surrounds us - the objects in our houses, the chairs we sit in, the cars in our streets, the towers in our cities and the clothes we wear. We reveal our inner character by what we buy. It is within this dialogue between ourselves and the objects we select to be part of our lives that Darren Lago focuses his art.

He is also inspired by the seemingly relentless spirit with which the objects of everyday life are continually reinvented. By taking an everyday object like a fridge and fusing it together with the supersonic Concorde he creates a new icon that makes the commonplace special. Both fridge and passenger plane share the same interior insulation approach of a skin of foam covered by rigid plastic.

Other examples of his sculpture include a standard 13 foot ladder built in a continuous circular shape and titled "RRR (Rung Rings Round)", and a sculpture titled "Stiletto Stalactite" is a lady's stiletto high-heeled shoe merged with a stalactite, meeting our primordial need to stand tall.

Born in Walsall (where he is currently Artist in Residence at the New Art Gallery) in 1965, Lago's one-person exhibitions have included those at Haus Bill in Zumikon, Switzerland and the 1000 Eventi Gallery in Milan. He has works in the Saatchi and Arts Council collections.