Bryan Kneale

London, The Whitechapel Gallery, Bryan Kneale Sculpture: 1959-1966, 1966
London, Pangolin London, Bryan Kneale: Five Decades, 2015, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Pendulum was included in the recent exhibition of the artist’s work at Pangolin London, where featured a small, select group of sculptures from the artist’s collection, which had been ‘held back for his pleasure and reflection’. The artist places particular significance on Pendulum: ‘It is only by looking back that you can look forward, and it is only after all these years that I can now see how relevant and important Pendulum was to the rest of my work and subsequent decision making process’. 

Pendulum incorporates two of the artist’s most important preoccupations: steel and poise. From the first moment he encountered steel, when his father retrieved a fragment of steel from the remnants of a bomb near their home on the Isle of Man, the artist was captivated by the stern durability of the material that nonetheless bent and folded under elemental heat and force. Pendulum comprises a rigid framework of strong lines, inflexibly joined together. However, the hanging element introduces a sense of delicacy that transforms the strict form into something variable, vital and beautiful, beguiling in its elegance and grace.