James Capper
Interested in the aesthetics of mechanical power and hydraulics, James Capper designs and fabricates works that respond to their environments—rolling, digging, climbing, drawing, lifting and cutting. To do so, they are often equipped with unique ‘marking’ components that are described by the artist as “tread pads” or “teeth.” His works are separated into divisions, which he describes as constantly expanding “family trees”—from Earth Marking, Off Shore, Carving Tools, and his most recent, Material Handling.
The choreographed actions of the machines are characterized by the slow, linear movements generated by hydraulic engineering. The structured uniformity of the machine’s motions recall the movements of spiders and caterpillars, whose movements Capper has studied and often replicated. In his Earth Marking works, the machines are equipped with appendages that act to document their movements on the earth, effectively drawing onto the natural landscape. The length, point and shape of each ‘tooth’ is designed to suit specific ground conditions and determines the shape, depth and frequency of the marks the machine inscribes into the ground. Capper’s machines also have specific, functional uses, but the tangible impact they have on the environment also engages with essential questions concerning the relationship between the natural world, art and …
Interested in the aesthetics of mechanical power and hydraulics, James Capper designs and fabricates works that respond to their environments—rolling, digging, climbing, drawing, lifting and cutting. To do so, they are often equipped with unique ‘marking’ components that are described by the artist as “tread pads” or “teeth.” His works are separated into divisions, which he describes as constantly expanding “family trees”—from Earth Marking, Off Shore, Carving Tools, and his most recent, Material Handling.
The choreographed actions of the machines are characterized by the slow, linear movements generated by hydraulic engineering. The structured uniformity of the machine’s motions recall the movements of spiders and caterpillars, whose movements Capper has studied and often replicated. In his Earth Marking works, the machines are equipped with appendages that act to document their movements on the earth, effectively drawing onto the natural landscape. The length, point and shape of each ‘tooth’ is designed to suit specific ground conditions and determines the shape, depth and frequency of the marks the machine inscribes into the ground. Capper’s machines also have specific, functional uses, but the tangible impact they have on the environment also engages with essential questions concerning the relationship between the natural world, art and technology.
His work was the subject of a solo exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2013. He has also exhibited at Art Basel Hong Kong, V&A, London, Saatchi Gallery, London, The Armory Show, New York, Tim Sherward Projects, London, Hannah Barry Gallery, Fundaziun Not Vital, Ardez, Bold Tendencies 5, London, Modern Art Oxford, Cass Sculpture Foundation amongst others. In 2009 he won the Royal Academy’s Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture and in 2011 was the recipient of the Royal Society of British Sculptors Bursary Award. In 2009, he was appointed a bursary member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors
Courtesy of CASS Sculpture Foundation
