Brochure Introduction 2001

There are two reasons that make it important for William Pye to publish his own journals. One is that as an artist who works mostly to commission, his completed sculptures are usually site specific and by definition are permanent features for their locations. They are not therefore brought together in exhibitions. Pye's solution for placing his work before a wider public lies in publications that show his sculptures through photography, drawing and texts. This is the second volume.

An artist seeing a flat representation of his three-dimensional sculpture, however beautiful the photograph, can never be certain that it communicates the essence of his work. Nothing can illustrate real scale, form, colour, material, movement, changing viewpoint, aspects, sight-lines and sheer presence other than the real thing. The photographs in this journal and in the former are very beautiful and are the best interpretations possible of a wide range of work. Many of the commissions shown here grew from people seeing and enjoying Pye's sculptures illustrated in the last publication.

The interest shown in William Pye's work over the last two years has given him the opportunity and confidence to develop his philosophy - a clear and confident position that lies, unusually, between the fields of art and design. This is a brave position to take, as to assume one stance usually prohibits the other. Pye positively enjoys working to commission, and takes pleasure in consultations with clients, in getting to understand the location for a new sculpture, and developing a sense of place and placement for his work. This can take days, months or years, depending on a multitude of factors ranging from alchemy to politics. His other great interest and joy is found in working with others - the architects, fabricators, foundries and stone masons, which, as Pye says, get fully involved. The technicians and advisers invariably retreat modestly after their part is completed. He has learnt a great deal from these collaborations, and his work has improved as a result of their contributions. In repaying their generosity of spirit, recording their involvement in his work becomes the second and no less important reason for these publications, as the facts may not be recorded publicly elsewhere.

Many of William Pye's commissions have been made for Heritage sites. It is to his credit that he can be entirely sensitive to issues of history and conservation, and he invariably finds apposite solutions for them in his work. He is aware that to place a contemporary sculpture in the garden of a four-hundred-year-old house may require many attempts at finding a solution. He is an artist that cares to solve problems posed by others, with them, while also preserving his own artistic integrity. His responsibility to his clients and their sites is met openly, enthusiastically and above all, creatively. It is these creative working relationships at every level of a commission that has caused his work to be sought by corporate collectors, local authorities, governments, businesses and private individuals throughout Britain and abroad.

Often artists that work primarily to commission have a separate life in which they develop other, more personal work. This is not quite the case for Pye, whose studio resembles a laboratory rather than a sculptor's workshop. The studio is where he develops ideas for new ways to shape water. These are then applied to commissions if appropriate. His studio practice is to build his sculptural vocabulary without necessarily producing a work of art as the direct result. The outcomes are a wide range of spouts and vessels, spectacularly orchestrated vortexes, streamlined lamina flows, textured waves or random splashes. It is in his laboratory that Pye also experiments with new materials, tests their compatibility with water and studies how water interacts with them. He is well known for his work in stainless steel and in bronze, but has recently introduced highly refined acrylic polymer that he has imported from the United States, which has no colour and has the apparent density of water.

This has allowed him to create sculptures that show a vortex with utter clarity and focus, as there is no distortion, parallax or colour change. Pye has also recently discovered a pale coloured bronze - Superston 70 - which is used for ships' propellers and is very hard. When polished, water flows easily over its surface. He has used this form of bronze in a series of spout pieces and particularly likes the way in which it oxidises over a period of time, as the material develops a form of iridescence that is further enhanced by water.

But why focus on the year 2000 which is now consigned to recent history? It was a time of great activity in the arts, and many people felt that the year had to be especially celebrated and recorded. Commissions to artists abounded, and considerable numbers of works of art were completed, moved forward and conceived during the year. Pye received many commissions, and those shown here range from his massive water environment, Aquarena in Millennium Square, Bristol, to the modest but beautiful abstract Mother and Child at Prior's Court School near Newbury. There are many works between those extremes illustrated in this journal, and all point to Pye's considerable achievement within this particular twelve-month period.