Old Sennockian and Sevenoaks Art teacher Oliver Barratt (OS 1981) recently travelled to Guangzhou for the unveiling of his new sculpture, Drawing Water, which was commissioned by the Parkland Group to be the centrepiece of a new residential development on the banks of the Pearl River, and was created in Kent and in a specialist sculpture workshop in China.
Based on the flow of a river, the sculpture is like a splash of water bouncing out of a pool that has been skilfully caught like a three-dimensional calligraphic brushstroke. This liquid movement is built into the looping pathways where a sense of structured order is balanced with an organic flow.
It is a work of elastic, perpetually moving energy, joining and connecting, holding up and diving down. In some ways it as a sculpture of high theatre, an explosion of movement into space, in other ways it is highly sensitive, with is carefully crafted curves, modelled forms and controlled tonal gradation of the painted surface.
Oliver is known for his distinctive abstract sculptures, some of which we are very fortunate to have on the school campus.
