In 2012 Colin Figue was invited to make two medium size sculptures, in black granite from the south of India, commissioned through the private patronage of Paresh Saraiya, a Vadodara based collector and industrialist. Made with the assistance of young Nepalese sculptor Deepak Rasailly, they were installed in Saraiya’s garden. A sculpture by Figue had previously been commissioned for the Uttarayan Art Foundation, in Vadodara, Gujerat, India in 2008.
In 1995 to 1996 he traveled in India and carved in the temple workshops at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu. The experience influenced his work, in particular the presence of stones and carvings of vernacular and religious origin in the landscape of the south of India.
Colin Figue was born in England in 1943. He studied at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, 1961 to 1965; and the Royal Academy School of Sculpture, 1966 to 1969. From 1971 to 1974 he had a studio and workshop near Cambridge, England and studied bronze casting with Michael Gillespie ARBS. From 1974, he worked in the Algarve, Portugal and during 1977 and 1978 he worked in the marble quarries of S.O.L.U.B.E.M.A. in the Alentejo, with the support of the British Council and the Portuguese government. In 1980 settled in southern Portugal. He has exhibited and worked throughout Europe and the Far East, the Middle East, Africa and South America. He is represented with sculptures in Open Air and public collections in Belize, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Japan, Taiwan, China, India and the Lebanon. In 1999 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. In 2011 he made a monumental stone sculpture for the Belize Sculpture Symposium 2011 to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Belizean Independence.
Image: Colin Figue. Eyes of the Beholder, 2012. Indian granite, 104 x 70 x 33 cm. Collection: Transpek-Silox, Baroda, India.
Colin Figue. In-between Worlds, 2012. Indian granite, 114 x 48 x 33 cm. Collection: Transpek-Silox, Baroda, India.
Stones, India. Photos by Colin Figue
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