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"Six months before I started working on this project,
I visited the Forest of Dean for the first time. I remember
being fascinated by the variety of the landscape and the colours;
hills and valleys - the open and
the intimate.
Gradually I found myself more interested in the concept of keeping the spirit of the wood with its natural habitat, yet at the same time adding new images which seem at odds with
the environment. I wanted to make a group of sculpture as part of an intimate surrounding.
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I built a group of deer, all black like their own shadows, mostly facing in one direction, and yet each one acting as if he is alone in the forest, caught in his own world, with his own fantasy visible. To achieve this I used very bright colours to stress both the alienation and the individuality."
Zadok Ben-David
They are drawn in two dimensions rather than realised fully in three dimensions, to suggest the fleeting glimpses that we have of this secretive creature, whose progress through the forest can often only be observed in the footprints which it leaves in the earth. The deer have always occupied a central place in the life of the Dean, being hunted by the kings who laid claim to the forests of England for this purpose. Zadok Ben David has wittily called the piece As there is no hunting tomorrow to suggest a holiday freedom for the deer.
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Zadok Ben David's deer are not literal representations but creatures of the imagination, suggesting the mysterious, unseen life of the forest. The objects that emanate from them are like the subjects of their dreams, or the simple thoughts they have as they make their carefree way through the forest.
Rupert Martin from 'The Sculpted Forest: Sculptures in the Forest of Dean'
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Note: The extract from 'The Sculpted Forest: Sculptures in the Forest of Dean' is
continued on the next page. Click next to continue.
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