Body search: how artist Toby Ziegler used Google to remix Matisse

Grey man art sculpture with no arms — Installation view of ‘Slave’ at the New Art Centre. © The artist. Courtesy of New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park

(Image credit: TBC)

British artist Toby Ziegler regularly explores ‘digital technology and the things that happen between it and analogue world’, and his latest works on show at the New Art Centre near Salisbury combine traditional coil-pot making, screen printing, painting and 3D printing techniques.

The show, entitled ‘Slave’, is inspired by Matisse, but Zielgler’s starting point was Google Images. He lowered the resolution of various Matisse bronzes until they became unrecognisable, abstract blurs, before turning them into hand coiled clay models. ‘I wanted them to look like they had come off a 3D printer, although they were made by hand,’ he explains. The clay models were then 3D printed and cast in aluminium. ‘Along the way I kept interfering with the printer, disrupting it, to make it fail, in the same way that coil pots slump and fall.’

Installation view of &lsquo;Slave&rsquo; on canvas painting — *Installation view of ‘Slave’ at the New Art Centre. © The artist. Courtesy of New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park*

The resulting sculptures are rococo forms with disruptive flourishes, baroque pieces that have been battered into the twenty first century. ‘They look like geological forms, like stalactites or layers of sedimentary rock, he muses, ‘but at the same time they look forced, not natural at all.’ A Google image search, this time for Matisse’s Large Reclining Nude (1935) provided the source imagery for Ziegler’s two paintings, and Matisse’s reliefs depicting progressively abstracted representations of a woman’s back are the inspiration for the four new screen prints that fill the gallery.

It’s the second time Ziegler has shown at Roche Court, a 19th-century country estate with its own art gallery and sculpture park. The New Art Centre is one of three contemporary spaces on the grounds and Ziegler’s sculptures, cast in oxidised aluminium will remain in situ until 26 November. ‘They will turn white as they age,’ he says. ‘One day, they might almost look like marble.’

Laying down grey man art sculpture with no head — Installation view of ‘Slave’ at the New Art Centre. *© The artist. Courtesy of New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park*

Split image of two grey art sculptures — Installation view of ‘Slave’ at the New Art Centre. *© The artist. Courtesy of New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park*

Canvas painting of grey and white view of &lsquo;Slave — Installation view of ‘Slave’ at the New Art Centre. *© The artist. Courtesy of New Art Centre, Roche Court Sculpture Park*

INFORMATION

’Slave’ is on view until 26 November. For more information, visit the New Art Centre website

ADDRESS

New Art Centre
Roche Court
East Winterslow
Salisbury SP5 1BG

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Emma O'Kelly is a freelance journalist and author based in London. Her books include Sauna: The Power of Deep Heat and she is currently working on a UK guide to wild saunas, due to be published in 2025.