Ricky Swallow

Ricky Swallow first became known for his meticulously carved realistic wooden sculptures, many in the tradition of still-life motifs and memento mori, but in recent years he has turned to working in bronze. His sculptures originate with readymade objects such as clocks, cups, and various cardboard elements, which he recasts in bronze and finishes with patinas that seem more traditionally suited for ceramics, creating a complicated relationship between the original object and its more durable iteration as an art object. “My work has always essentially been about translation, passing a subject through various processes on the way to a fixed or permanent state, with each different material influencing the creation of new forms,” Swallow has said.