Sculptor Profile

 

Dan Rutherford

Dan Rutherford Drawing on his geological training, an innate love of landscape and a philosophy strongly anchored in a desire to look at time and space in different ways, Dan Rutherford works as a landscape designer and sculptor. Based in Christchurch, he uses an interesting and diverse mix of materials. His sculpture often appears to have almost grown from its surroundings, forming tangible links between the areas they rest in and their landscape context. Rutherford often uses boundaries such as walls and windows to slice through his works. Room and building boundaries then seem less significant and the question arises; does the boundary pass through the work, or does the work pass through the boundary? Each work encapsulates an energy, sometimes displayed in the form of fire, water or light. The sense of encapsulation sets up a tension between the sculpture and its surroundings, reinforcing any related interspatial dynamic. Encasement explores the concept of the inside of concretions being filled, not by solid structure, but by light so the viewer is drawn to the source of what appears to be some sort of contained energy and is left unsure of whether the energy is building up or subsiding.