Marc Bodie of South West England
I was born in 1966 in Newport, South Wales where I also grew up.At a young age my vivid imagination was caught by the work of the wonderful Ray Harryhausen while watching his creations in The Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. His amazing stop-motion animated figures of myth and legend inspired me to make my own figurative sculptures and when my Dad told me they were made of plasticine there was no stopping me!
These days I have moved on from plasticine to clay which I develop into a finished work which can be cast into bronze or bronze resin.
For the past 27 years my work has been sold mainly through exhibitions and commissions. My career first took off in 1995 when I began exhibiting with The McHardy Sculpture Company near Tower Bridge . Many of the works sold were figurative stone carvings of the whole body carved from British limestones. I sold a lot of work with this gallery which sadly closed in 2007. In the meantime I had been developing my works in clay for casting into bronze. One of these peices Urban Caesar ( exhibited here) was my first piece to be purchased for a corporate collection.
I am now represented by NoonPowell Fine Art in Notting Hill together with other British and overseas galleries such as the Red Sheep Gallery, New York and Art Parks Guernsay.
These days I live with my family in a pretty village near Bath. In 2021 I was invited to become a memeber of The Bath Society of Artists after exhibiting and winning an award at the Bath Society of Artists Open Exhibition where I was presented with my award by the Mayor of Bath.
My work is in many private collections all over the world and is regularly shown at various art fairs in Hampstead, Battersea and Cheltenham by galleries that represent me. I am also a member of The Cotswold Sculptors Association who have outdoor sculpture exhibitions every year at such venues as Berkley Castle and Abbey House Gardens in Malmsbury.
I endeavour to have emotion at the heart of all my work whether it is suggested in an abstract way ie through posture or gesture or perhaps even the texture of a peice or more traditionally through the expression on a face.
The inspiration that informs my work can come from many sources including novels, poetry or lyrics from songs and the natural world. I hope to imbue my chosen means of expression, the male figure, with intense emotion and the influence of other sculptors who have made a deep impression on me ie Michelangelo, Rodin and Frink to name a few.
To be moved by a piece of poetry for instance, to engage with it imaginatively and to manifest the idea visually in the form of a man. This is the urge that drives my work forward.
Stone carving was my first real step into the world of professional sculpting. I would use myself as a model, surrounding myself with mirrors and this early training has given me a good knowledge of human anatomy. The poses were physically challenging and not something I could expect a model to keep up for a prolonged time but all of this enabled me to find meaning in the musculature of my own body and to embody this in stone.
These days I mostly work in clay in order to facilitate poses which can require a balancing point or are more fluid, slender limbs can reach out beyond the trunk. These pieces are then cast in bronze or bronze resin which are more suited for a more open approach.
