Sculpting in the wake of a lost love

DUBLIN plays host to Jessica Sturgess’s debut exhibition this month.

Sturgess’s collection of bronze and ceramic sculptures are reflective of her life with her late partner, the sculptor Barry Flanagan.

Sturgess was born in Budapest in 1939 and brought up in Spain from the age of seven. During her college years in Valencia she was involved with a puppet company, where she began to develop her skills in mould making. She spent her 20s in India where she kept her eye sharp by keeping a drawing journal.

Sturgess met Barry Flanagan in 1992 on her return to Ibiza. She began working for him, first as a translator and later in the studio. “I helped him in any way I could,” she says, “I would draw him and sometimes work on his sculptures. He would say, ‘Oh, do something, let’s change it’, and then I’d do something and he could move on if he was stuck with a sculpture. But basically I did a lot of drawing. He really believed that drawing is the basis of art, and that people should practise to draw first of all. So I would draw him quite a lot. I’ve got him as a model in my little exhibition, on the mantelpiece: Barry posing as a model.”

Sturgess was in a romantic relationship with Flanagan for the last seven years of his life. After his death she had to dismantle his studio. On finding herself surrounded with materials, Sturgess began to work on her own sculptures.

“I had time on my hands because my assistant Tanya could only do one week on/one week off,” says Sturgess.

Sturgess’s figurative pieces all reflect on her life with Flanagan. The male figures are direct portraits of him. There are also mermaids, boatmen, dragons, elephants, lions and other metaphorical portraits of the artist and Flanagan.

“We had a boat which used to sit on our car in Ibiza and we would go down to the beach. It was a two-man boat, two people could sit it on top of the little Fiat Panda, go down to a small sandy cove, push it off and get in. Barry would get in it and I would swim behind with snorkels and goggles because I love to swim. So that’s the main theme of my little boat man, with the mermaid coming up on the waves looking at him.”

Working on the sculptures was cathartic for Sturgess in the aftermath of losing a loved one. After a time the tears turned to a smile with the acknowledgement that Flanagan would not approve of too much grieving.

Astrology plays a large part in how Sturgess chose to represent Flanagan. “The dragon theme came because he was born in the year of the dragon. I have dabbled in the I Ching and I do love astrology. Barry was a lover of the I Ching as well. So with him being born in the year of the dragon and sharing some of its characteristics I made him as a dragon a few times.”

*Recent Works by Jessica Sturgess runs at the Oliver Sears Gallery in Dublin until Feb 28