‘Square Dance’ begins every 15 minutes in the tithe barn
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Movement takes centre stage at Messums West with a forthcoming solo exhibition by pioneering kinetic sculptor Peter Logan (b. 1943). Extending around the Messums West site, Kinesis presents for sale, for the first time, the artist’s exquisite working models, maquettes and drawings, alongside a series of his large-scale kinetic sculptures, distributed around the grounds of the gallery. The pieces on show are a cross-section of Logan’s life’s work, demonstrating his developments and remarkable innovations in sculpture, and exhibiting some of his most important works. The exhibition also showcases several extraordinary small electronic maquettes inspired by key early pieces destroyed in a devastating fire in 1979, which Logan now hopes to recreate. The exhibition is also a unique opportunity to see Logan’s critically acclaimed ‘Square Dance’ (1969) (a version of which is in the permanent collection of the Tate Gallery), which will be on show in the magnificent 13th century Tithe Barn, accompanied by an electronic sound score composed especially for the piece by Brian Hodgson. 

Born in Witney, Oxfordshire, in 1943, Logan studied sculpture at Oxford School of Art, (1961-63) and Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (1963-66) under Robert Medley, before enrolling at the Slade School of Fine Art (1966-68), where he specialised in Theatre and Film Studies. His tutor at the Slade instructed him to attend the theatre at least three times per week, and Logan enthusiastically obliged and quickly fell in with a group of emerging and established dancers, choreographers and musicians associated with The Place, who taught him the physical, visual and intellectual language of dance. 

The finished sculptures are feats of engineering, and their immense beauty lies in the precision of their movements, achieved through Logan’s infallible eye for detail. Alongside finished sculptures and working models and maquettes, the exhibition at Messums West presents the vast archive of drawings and literature for ‘Fandango’ – the centrepiece of the Long Gallery exhibition – demonstrating the level of conceptual and technical work which goes into the creation of each piece. 

Logan’s work can be found in important collections, including the Tate Gallery, London, and has been exhibited in many international institutions and public spaces around the globe, including the Royal Academy of Arts, Whitechapel Gallery, Hayward Gallery and National Theatre in London; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; and the Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao; the Ville de Saint Nazaire; and the Hakone Museums in Japan.