Notorious Wakefield Artist and Northern Art Prize 2009 nominee Richard William Wheater (pictured right), has enlisted the services of his friends and fellow artist Jude Wright to find £4,000 in 6 weeks to create a large light installation and performance at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Wakefield Cathedral.
Wheater says: ‘Neon installations don’t come cheap and when you want to work with this stuff, you have to think creatively! Jude is a genius at promoting and organizing, she also believes I can pull this planned installation and performance off. The work Disappearing Paths is a dialogue about our faith as individuals, and the universal human search to the sky for something more than human. I’m putting my faith in my friend Jude and the general public to help bring this work to life.
Jude – Head Of Creative Engagement at Theatre Royal Wakefield will help Wheater realise his most ambitious and largest work to date, by asking individuals and business’s to sponsor the project. Both artists and Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) feel that Wakefield has the potential and skill to be creating work and events of national significance. Testament to this is YSP’s agreement to host Disappearing Paths in September.
‘We need just £250 from 16 sponsors to meet the target’ says Jude. ‘Rich is making a small run of silkscreen prints based on the project that would normally sell for about this price anyway and has offered to donate a signed one to each £250 sponsor.
Both the subject matter of the work and the alternate method of funding Disappearing Paths both speak of the primeval spirituality in human beings, and what can be achieved through acting on this aspect of our psyche. ‘I want to entertain the public with Disappearing Paths and create a real spectacle’ acknowledges Wheater. ‘When Jude came up with the idea of involving lots of individuals directly by sponsoring such a piece of work, it seemed more in keeping with the theme of Disappearing Paths rather than going down the traditional funding routes.
Jonathan Greener - Dean of Wakefield says, 'I commend Richard for wanting to work with such powerful subject matter and getting the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Wakefield Cathedral involved. I'm looking
forward to welcoming new audiences into the cathedral to engage with Wheater's work in light and performance at 7:30pm on the 30th of September.'
If you are interested in being one of the 16 sponsors of Wheater’s latest project Disappearing Paths please contact:
Jude Wright: Theatre Royal Wakefield 01924 334 114
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Editors notes:
To discuss the project in more detail, or to enquire about opportunities for interviews please do not hesitate to contact Richard Wheater on Telephone: 01924 387 999 /
info@richardwheater.com
YSP is an independent art gallery, accredited museum and registered charity, number 1067908. YSP receives funding from: Arts Council England, Wakefield MDC, The Henry Moore Foundation and West Yorkshire Grants. www.ysp.co.ukR32;R32;
For further press enquiries or images contact Anna Neville or Eleanor BrysonR32;
t. 01924 832 633 / 642 R32;anna.neville@ysp.co.uk /
eleanor.bryson@ysp.co.uk
Disappearing Paths takes place at dusk on the 26th September 2009 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and on the 30th September at 7:30pm in Wakefield Cathedral. For press tickets, please contact
info@richardwheater.com
The Northern Art Prize: www.northernartprize.org.uk
Richard Wheater:
http://www.richardwheater.com
Jude Wright:
http://www.bentarchitect.co.uk
