For Kneale the sculpture making process is one of self-discovery. His innate fear of repetition means that once a form becomes familiar it is immediately discarded. What has been previously made will inform future new sculpture and will change the development of his work.
He says: "(the point of making sculpture) is to try and discover in some way the meaning of your own life, to clarify in your own mind those capabilities, or abilities, to see things achieve an existence independent of yourself".
Pendulum derives from a piece of the same name made in 1963 when Kneale was pushing the boundaries of what he could do with welding, often using elements of found metal, gas canisters and exploded bomb shells. Despite his use of heavy, seemingly intractable lumps of metal Kneale’s work is elegant and poised. Here an intricate pendulum hangs elegantly from a thin triangular frame, precise and still yet tense with a quiet danger.
Not content with making and exhibiting, Kneale is also a curator and teacher. The first abstract sculptor to be elected to the R.A, he very quickly went on to mount 'British Sculptors', the seminal exhibition of Modern British Sculpture at the Royal Academy in 1972. An exhibition of the work of twenty-four sculptors working in the UK at the time, it has since been described as the most ground-breaking exhibition of contemporary sculpture held in Britain. He also curated the Jubilee exhibition of British Sculpture in Battersea Park in 1977. Bryan Kneale's career as a teacher began at the Royal College of Art in 1952, becoming Head of Sculpture in 1985 and Professor of Drawing in 1990.
Kneale has exhibited widely both within the UK and internationally and his work can be found in many prestigious public collections including the Tate Collection; The British Museum; The Natural History Museum, London; The Arts Council of Great Britain; The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Victoria, S. Australia; Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paolo, Brazil and the National Gallery of New Zealand. Pangolin London is pleased to represent Bryan Kneale.
