Paul Mount, Dancing Couple, circa 1988

1988

Medium

Stainless steel, on a slate base

Dimensions

2 × 4 cm

Edition

3 of 7

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-150693

A musician as well as an artist, Mount carried across the complexities of rhythm, music and dance into his sculptural practice. He expressed himself as a formalist and focussed heavily on the impact of the physical and visual qualities of objects themselves on a viewer, seeing this as an essential and central part of all things. Mount’s works often employ titles which derive from or are suggestive of musical compositions and include interlocking or connected objects, which he saw as equally significant as the relationship between people. Mount examines both human and abstract form in Dancing Couple . In a dynamic and playful twist of steel, two figures harmoniously intertwine around each other in a continuous loop, their bodies simultaneously creating new, complex shapes from the negative space between them. Although it seems the figures rely on each other for stability, each is in fact perfectly balanced, with only the head of each figure touching in an intimate, perhaps romantic connection. The chosen medium of hard steel contrasts dramatically with the gentle nature of the forms. Mount' s use of stainless steel came about by chance, after being tasked to create a swimming pool (which never came to fruition). Initially, the artist began exploring materials which would not corrode however Mount came to delight in the highly reflective nature of the metal, which allowed him to view the sculptures and their mirrored settings entirely differently each time.