Michael Lyons: 'Half-Light'

About

The exhibition 'Half-Light' by Michael Lyons concerns drawings and sculpture inspired by nature and the landscape, and includes important works from the 1980s alongside more recent and newly created pieces. At the Private View on 18 June, the exhibition was opened by Alistair Hudson, Director of mima and one of this year's Turner Prize judges.

The exhibition attempts to chart the transition from formal studies on paper to abstract sculpture, each of which conveys a sense of growth and universality.

Many of the drawings and sculptures from the 1980s stem from a residency undertaken by Lyons in Grizedale Forest in Cumbria. Lyons was entranced by 'the play of light and shadow [in the forest], the depth and mystery of the environment, and indeed the movements of animals, which inhabited the trees and more secluded areas of the undergrowth'.

The exhibition includes examples from a series of small bronzes that related to Lyons' time in Grizedale, as well as a larger work in steel, Stagnight (1985), which was developed from these and is shown in the Gallery's gardens. 'Stagnight' has previously been exhibited at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, RIBA in London and in Lyons' solo show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1998.

The Gallery has produced an accompanying volume of reflections and commentary, which is available at £5.00 (inc. UK P&P). To order a copy please email the gallery.