Kevin Coates is an extraordinary man. He's a jewellery and silversmith, a musician and a mathematician. He seems to have no end of talents, but not that many people seem to have heard of him. I first saw his work in Edinburgh in 2000. The exhibition was called "Fragments: Pages Stolen from a Book of Time". It was jewellery, each piece incorporating a found object (ranging from a Venetian pin to a fragment of pottery to a stone arrowhead), mounted on panels of slate that had been decorated. I loved his work instantly and haven't stopped hoping that one day I will be able to create something half as beautiful as his work. A book which follows his career so far, The Hidden Alchemy, was published in 2008. In it there are photos of almost everything he's ever made. The sheer quantity of items is staggering. How has he managed to create so much as well as having had time to write a book and made a CD? Harper's and Queens has called him "Britain's Leonardo". They're not far wrong.
Saturday 7 February 2009
Kevin Coates, a Renaissance Man
Kevin Coates is an extraordinary man. He's a jewellery and silversmith, a musician and a mathematician. He seems to have no end of talents, but not that many people seem to have heard of him. I first saw his work in Edinburgh in 2000. The exhibition was called "Fragments: Pages Stolen from a Book of Time". It was jewellery, each piece incorporating a found object (ranging from a Venetian pin to a fragment of pottery to a stone arrowhead), mounted on panels of slate that had been decorated. I loved his work instantly and haven't stopped hoping that one day I will be able to create something half as beautiful as his work. A book which follows his career so far, The Hidden Alchemy, was published in 2008. In it there are photos of almost everything he's ever made. The sheer quantity of items is staggering. How has he managed to create so much as well as having had time to write a book and made a CD? Harper's and Queens has called him "Britain's Leonardo". They're not far wrong.
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Having just seen his exhibition at the Wallace Collection I have to agree. Figurative yet allegorical, whimsical yet profound, every piece has a hidden narrative carried in its form and colour. His is no decorative art and this is not jewellery but an art that "aspires to the condition of music" in a wonderful and unique amalgam of imagination and skill. He might not be "Britain's Leonardo" but he is certainly our very own Benvenuto Cellini. How I covet these beautiful things!
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