Simon Periton: Bodypopper and Shed. Public Art Commissions 2015

Two new commissions in London by Simon Periton mark an extension of his visual language into urban, architectural contexts. Periton’s work utilises the tradition of the ornamental lace doily and decorative cut out forms, to exploit themes that include nature, popular culture, politics, colonialism, the supernatural and punk

Bodypopper, is a permanent installation at Camden’s new flagship council building in Pancras Square is part of the regeneration of the area surrounding King’s Cross. A botanical frieze of silhouetted forms in coloured vinyl extends across a 20-metre glass wall and adjoining walls. Eight different types of plant are featured in the work, all of which can be found growing wild in brownfield sites in London. Most of the plants depicted are common to the Camley Street Nature Garden, visible through the glass support of the artwork to the north of the building. Periton describes the project as a means of bringing nature into the building and softening the boundary between city and landscape.

Shed, at Brentford Lock on the Grand Union Canal, draws upon forms using cut paper and stencils. He has transformed the facades of a large boatshed replacing the structure’s old corrugated iron exterior with elegant strip timber, inlaid with the design of fruit leafs that are specific to the local market garden history. Developing upon the artist’s long-term use of symmetry, mirroring and repetition, the work harnesses the reflective possibilities of its waterway setting, with the reflected images of the sheds in the water complete the piece. The project forms part of a wider programme of regeneration funded by Hounslow Council and the Greater London Authority GLA.

Commissions for public sculpture include projects for firstsite, Colchester, Essex; Channel Four; and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Forthcoming works include a horticultural installation at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire (completion June 2015), and for the redevelopment of the site of the Radcliffe Infirmary for Oxford University. He will also have a solo exhibition at Roche Court, Wiltshire, in spring 2015

Simon Periton lives and works in London and is represented by Sadie Coles HQ, London and The Modern Institute, Glasgow.

Images: Copyright the artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London