By Brontë Schiltz
Touch Wood, a new exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park by Jonathan Baldock, combines colour, texture scent and sound in a subversive exploration of local history.
The phrase “touch wood” derives from ancient pagan animist ideals – the belief that all natural objects possess a soul. As legend does, touching a tree would invoke its spirit, providing protection from harmful forces.
In sculptor Jonathan Baldock’s usage, it also evokes the fifteenth century misericords and wooden carvings of Wakefield Cathedral that inspired his new exhibition at nearby Yorkshire Sculpture Park. These misericords – concealed shelves that offered a discreet means to rest during long sermons in the medieval church – provided the inspiration Baldock needed.
“If you were building these religious spaces, with how monotonous much of it must have been, the opportunity to create these beings must have been a bit of an amazing outlet, and also had an amount of freedom of expression about it,” he says.
Original articles from Street News.