Ashley Baldwin-Smith - Cambridge Artist
Sculpture cast in plaster, cement and other materials
I work in various sculptural mediums, from welded metal to concrete casting and ceramics. Many of my sculptures are created from or include found objects. Some are perhaps better described as assemblages and some are temporary and never intended for sale.
Mother Earth
Mother Earth is a culmination of my experiments with cement casting and crystal glazes. The blues and greens of the ceramic surface represents the colours seen in orbital satellite images of the Earth and the grey grout represents the scars of over population and pollution that is now very visible in space. The figure has feminine connotations with Mother Earth/Mother Nature and the prone position again symbolises the state of our planet - it is crying out for help!
Mother Earth
Cement, hand-made ceramic skin
2000
Victim or Aggressor?
I made this experimental sculpture as I tried to come to terms with the level of violence, drug and alcohol abuse I witnessed at first hand. For example, one of my old school mates, a very successful entrepreneur and a happy go lucky sort of bloke, hit bad times. Faced with the death of a close family member he turned to drink that quickly led to a ban for drinking and driving. It wasn't long before his business failed and despite support from friends and family he descended into a life of heavy drugs.The cocktail of drink drugs made him paranoid and very violent. He quickly exhausted his savings and turned to theft to fuel his needs and it wasn't long before he ended up in prison. About the same time, a fellow student of mine went out with friends for a night to celebrate his birthday.
Victim or Aggressor?
ModRoc, broken bottles, syringes and a knife
1999
A Series of Walks
A walk in the woods is one in a series of eight cylindrical sculptures that together form a circular monument; a Twentieth Century monument to the environment. A reminder of how we are destroying this planet. For example, many different objects could be cast into a single sculpture and even when hidden 'inside' it was easy to carve back into the sculpture and reveal them: I was also able carve messages into it, similar to how people carve words and symbols into trees. On several 'trips', for example along a disused railway track, I found charred remains of cars and rubbish.
A walk in the park
Found objects cast in surgical plaster
1999
A walk in the woods
Found objects cast in surgical plaster
1999
A walk through the field
Rubbish collected after a short walk through a field
1999
Other experimental work
Night Out
Glass and surgical plaster
2000
Head
Modeled in clay and cast in cement
2000
