Artist 'ramps it up' to earn Guardian honour

Press release issued: 20 September 2011



Tom Dale, a PhD Fine Art research student at Anglia Ruskin University has recently been awarded the prestigious Artist of the Week accolade by The Guardian newspaper.

Skye Sherwin of The Guardian wrote:

"Dale's diverse, exuberant works ooze rock'n'roll bravura but show what lies beneath: the destructiveness of roads to nowhere"

Originally from Cumbria, Tom, 37, now works in London but continues to conduct extensive research at Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge; which he says gives him "time, a support structure and testing ground".

Much of Tom's work is inspired by his fascination with stuntmen and the grandeur surrounding this profession. An interest in the life of Evel Knievel has stimulated much of the work Tom has produced for his most recent exhibition Memorial Drag Strip, including twisted, oversized and obviously unusable stunt ramps.

Tom has clear visions of what the ramps symbolise and how they reflect political situations and ideologies.

Tom said:

"To me the ramp is more about belief. The leap we make when we choose to believe something, or someone, invariably means that we have chosen to ignore other things.

"These sculptures are only really completed when we consider the landing of the ideas they launch, both good and bad."

As well as the ramp sculptures, a key piece in the exhibition is video work called Shot Through. It shows a new drum kit being blown to pieces by a hunting rifle in an otherwise tranquil forest setting, again conveying the idea of uncertainty and potential destructiveness.

Memorial Drag Strip, is on show at the Poppy Sebire Gallery, in Southwark, London, until 1 October.

The full Artist of the week article can be found on the Guardian website.
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