Simon Ings works in a diverse spectrum of materials including stone, dust, ash, clay and plaster. Simon describes the material as an integral part of every piece he creates and focuses on allowing the natural qualities in everything he works with to be apparent.

 

Dust and ash are inherently transient and fragile, characteristics which he has used to illustrate ideas of trace,

brevity and the ephemeral.

 

Stone conveys permanence, and Simon likes to see this as a material which responds as you work with it; there is a balance which must be struck between artist and material and a fine line exists between taking away too much or too little.

 

He states that the work he produces is without a particular theme; the only two factors which links his pieces is that they are all responses to his own mortality, and the way in which he works with the negative in his treatment of the materials.

 

This uncontrived way of working gives the work a sense of simplicity and sincerity.

 

Ings' most recent works 'Bread, Bread Broken', embodies a quiet simplicity with a strong sense of  wholeness and familiarity.

The two sculptures presented together, demonstrate the process of the making and the breaking of the bread, along with a short film made from slow motion captures which documents the performance,

conveying the fragility of life and its repercussions from the sacrificial act, symbolising the traditions of sharing.

 

"My work is born from romanticism, a desire to make, and a passion for imagery and narrative.I grew up on a hill farm in Dorset, England and this is where my creative core was formed.The chalk, the flint, the twisted roots, the copses along the pathways carved into the hillsides by a history of wandering animals driven by my ancestors. This is the place from which my work originates and my inspiration comes. As far as I remember I have been compelled to make. To whittle, to carve, to mould and shape materials pulled from the earth. Life experiences have enhanced my creative vocabulary. Through love, loss, fatherhood, travel and learning, have all shaped my making and my choice of materials, from stone, to silver and gold."