Benji Lowsley-Williams
Benji Lowsley-Williams graduated from Kingston University in 1993 with a degree in sculpture. He taught himself stone carving in the Andalusian quarries in Almeria, where there were abundant blocks of rough marble. A turning point in his artistic evolution was time spent in Mahabalipuram, India, where he worked with the local carvers, learning the traditional techniques of temple and deity carving. More recently, a commission took him to the stone carving centre in Danang, Vietnam, where he was also able to work on his own evolving sculptural ideas. Benji lives in Dorset, where he works with the local Purbeck marble.
The inherent properties of stone and its transformation into a finely honed object from a state of rawness are the focus of Benji’s current work. He thinks of it as a continuation of the quarrying process. Sculptures reminiscent of ancient standing stones manifest humanity’s long history with the material. Benji uses raw quarried stone, or found pieces, which he carves to reveal the geometric forms within.
It’s interesting to watch the passage of the sun throughout the day, orientating the worked stone so as to map out the precession on the shadows across its surface.
