ROUNDABOUT
[LUKE PERRY]
The second artist, who’s two-month residency at The Asylum Art Gallery will follow David Checkley in our ROUNDABOUT project, is Luke Perry. Find out more about the artist and their proposal below.
15th January - 17th March 2024| Public event and unveiling 19th May 2024.
[ ABOUT THE ARTIST ]
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Luke Perry is a sculptor from the Black Country who specialises in Public Artworks that shine light on less represented people and subjects in communities.
He works in stone and bronze but is most known for his large-scale steel artworks which include the Lions of the Great War memorial in Smethwick and the SS Journey Monument to Immigrants in Birmingham.
As a proud environmentalist, activist, and artist with an award-winning 16 years of experience creating public artworks in the Industrial Midlands, Perry has cultivated a knowledge and passion for local history, cultural identities and communities in the area.
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[ ROUNDABOUT ]
For our ROUNDABOUT project, Luke Perry will hand-make four stand-alone, galvanised steel sculptures that stand up to 2.5 metres tall in the Chapel Ash underpass and represent four different subjects chosen in collaboration with the local community.
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Through a series of hands-on engagement sessions and workshops, Perry proposes to work closely with the community and board to investigate and develop ideas for sculptures so that celebrate the area's history, culture, industry and present.
The final sculptures will be made by hand in the artists' workshop in Cradley Heath using a selection of traditional methods, like plasma cutting, welding and finishing, which will ensure the works are vandal-proof, robust and zero-maintenance with a lifespan exceeding 25 years.
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There will be an event in May 2024 once Luke Perry's residency has been completed and the sculptures can be unveiled in the Chapel Ash underpass. Find out about upcoming events by signing up to our newsletter.
[RESIDENCY SO FAR]
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Since the start of 2024, Luke Perry has been in discussion with many members of the local community including Black History specialists, gallery curators, South Asian Studies specialists, and more to develop ideas for his steel sculptures. He has also run workshops for the public to help expand his research and in one workshop that he ran with Suit Services, Perry said he “didn’t have a minute when there wasn't a queue of people waiting to talk to me about their story [..] I gained a huge amount of insight”. “Not only have I been meeting with many people who are directly adding content to the research but I'm also getting dozens of new people to work with”.
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As part of his residency, Perry is now working with hyper-local resident artists of Wolverhampton, Giovanni Uche and Matt Lloyd from the ROUNDABOUT Community Board, as co-designers for two of the sculptures. Read more in this article by the Express and Star.
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The four steel sculptures by Luke Perry that have been created in collaboration with the local community will be unveiled on 19th May. Find out about upcoming events by signing up to our newsletter.
