Kevin Francis Gray: Striding Youth

See pictures and read more on materiallyspeaking.com Kevin talks about his childhood in South Armagh, Northern Ireland, and how the experience of his teenage years coloured his life. He opens up about how his work explores family relationships - sons, fathers and toxic masculinity.He studied at art school in Dublin and Chicago, before doing a masters at Goldsmiths in London. During art school his work became more sculptural until, soon after graduating, he shifted from painting to sculpture.When he arrived in Pietrasanta he began by creating traditional classical sculptures with a contemporary twist. However soon he wanted to create something more personal and developed his own abstract, contemporary style of sculpture. He enjoys challenging the stone to do different things.His Family Series is a very personal look at his role as a father, husband and man. Son Dancing was inspired by a glimpse of one of his sons dancing freely, unaware of his body, and wearing his mother’s high-heeled shoes.In his studio we see a series called Fragile Heads which are portraits, but very flawed and damaged. This emotionally rich series arose from portraits he created of men he’d seen in passing. He sculpted them roughly, and energetically, and by leaving water inside the clay before firing ensured that the finished pieces cracked and evoked the fragility and tenderness of men.A large piece which caught my attention in his studio was Striding Youth. Kevin explained that his idea in this piece was to use gesture to indicate the confidence of youth, walking out of the block of stone.Currently, Kevin is working on a series called Ten Heroes. These are abstract portraits, this time of his lifelong heroes, and we had the chance to see some of them come alive in his studio. So far, this series includes Barbara Hepworth, Samuel Beckett, Charles Mingus and Bobby Sands.Kevin likes his plinths to be an extension of the sculptures themselves. They highlight the works in a way that simple white boxes can’t. He uses many types of contemporary materials for his plinths, especially to complement marble sculptures, which might be freighted by the history of the stone.Kevin and his wife, Tara, founded Marble Projects to give back to the artist community. As well as offering young local, or international, artists the chance to use cutting edge technology for affordable prices, he helps young artists with a space to work and the chance to learn from the artists in his studio. Pietrasanta has been kind to him, he says, and this is his way of giving back.Linkskevinfrancisgray.cominstagram.com/kevinfrancisgraystudiomarbleprojects.com