Ivan Lovatt's Chicken Wire Art PDF Print E-mail
Cool Art & Artists
Sunday, 05 April 2009 14:54

ivan_and_graceI thought I would start my series back up on really cool looking art.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ivan spent his childhood in Africa, England, Wales and Germany.  When not outside enjoying the natural environment, Ivan was drawn to all forms of artistic expression, and he began drawing birds and African wildlife.

As an adult, Ivan worked mostly in construction, but art was always an important part of his life. Ivan would spend all of his spare time learning about art, experimenting and trying to explore each medium to its potential. Ivan exhibited his sculpture and paintings in group exhibitions at the Guildhall, Grantham, before emigrating to Australia in 1994.

Inspired by his new environment, Ivan focused his creativity on the hands on reality of sculpture.  Ivan is particularly excited by the transformation of such an ordinary medium as chicken wire into a piece of art.  He is drawn towards creating work that is accessible and meaningful.

Ivan's personality is represented in his sculpture. His work is honest, often quirky and amusing, yet demonstrates compassion for his subject, and above all, has great integrity.

Ivan initially worked with driftwood and reclaimed timber, which he fashioned into exquisite representations of birds and wildlife.  Ivan received a great deal of publicity and public acclaim for this work and won the Swell Festival People’s Choice in 2004 with his representation of a flightless bird “Running Bird Walking”.

Ivan’s versatility and adaptability are clearly demonstrated by his return to using chicken wire, a medium that lends itself to the sensitivity and delicacy of his expression.   By layering, twisting and shaping this very ordinary medium Ivan creates both abstract and realistic representations, which are tactile, appealing to the viewer to touch.  As Ivan’s skills developed and evolved he was drawn to figurative work, and Ivan began a series of portraits of famous people which candidly demonstrates his superior level of craftsmanship and attention to detail.  Ivan’s wire work as received many awards and a great deal of media coverage.

His homepage is here.

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Your Canvas Junkie Host

I am your host at Canvas Junkie and work in several media. I design and make one of a kind sculpture you can wear or jewelry.

As well as paint, make found object sculpture and generally will chase after anything sparkly. When I was a teen my dad would introduce me as his daughter with the disclaimer of "You know artists are weird".

Now that I have seen many years of life pass by (I'm in denial about exactly how many)............. I'm happy to be known as an artist because....... life is just weird.