GUIDO DE COSTANZO & BRUCE DENNY
at The Gallery, Mount Street

Exhibition Dates:
Monday 8th February - Friday 1st October
Venue:
The Gallery at Tim Flynn Architects, 99 Mount Street, London, W1K 2TF
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm

This is the first time these four extraordinary works by Denny and de Costanzo have been seen together. The juxtaposition of Denny’s figurative sculptures against de Costanzo’s energetic, textural paintings is an exciting and unique pairing; the styles and techniques employed by each artist are very different, yet are both of the highest quality and craftsmanship.

Denny’s figurative sculptures are inspired by human form and function, and investigate the mechanics of the physical structure. By exploring significant moments in our lives, his sculptures capture emotion in a static three dimensional form that evokes movement and life. Bruce's pieces begin as moulded clay sculptures which he manipulates to create the final mould for casting into bronze.

‘Brothers’ are part of a portrait commission of a father and his two sons. It was to mark a significant moment for the family as the boys were about to flee the nest and travel the world. The father originally intended to commission a painted portrait of the family group but opted instead for sculptures cast in bronze.

‘Fitting In’ is a self-portrait of the artist who has experienced many changes in his life. Denny conceived this sculpture after numerous incarnations and with a sense that he was finally ready to unfurl and show his true self to the world. The figure encapsulates the complexities we endure as individuals in our modern society. Some of us appear to fit in more easily than others whilst others are restrained by political, emotional and psychological burdens.

De Costanzo’s paintings employ traditional painting techniques to create meticulously crafted contemporary abstract canvases. The pieces achieve their distinctive appearance through an intricate process which involves applying twenty layers of priming gesso, followed by further layers of coloured pigment and metal-leaf, and finally releasing a 'drop' of molten solder which burns through the metal leaf exposing the pigments below. A great tension exists between the carefully premeditated backgrounds and the dramatic and spontaneous aspects of the 'drop' - it is this balance that gives Guido’s work its purpose and meaning.

In the ‘The Bow Tie’ de Costanzo has used a spontaneous splash of molten solder onto five carefully constructed and assembled canvasses. This creates a tension throughout the whole piece and the space which surrounds it.

‘Blue Wave’ is the largest work made by de Costanzo to date. Its sheer scale allows the energy of the solder splash to move around in multiple directions, creating a vast area of textured canvas that sits in perfect harmony with the ‘still’ curved space at the top of the piece.

Denny and de Costanzo live and work in London. Denny is a self-taught artist. He has artwork in numerous private and corporate collections. De Costanzo studied Fine Art at the Liceo Hayek in Milan. His work features in many private and corporate collections including Bank of England, JP Morgan, Coutts & Co and Sovereign Capital.