Events

Alongside our exhibition A Lesson in Sculpture with John Latham, Rozemin Keshvani discusses John Latham's (1921-2006) approach to sculpture within the evolving landscape of British post-war art in the late 1950s and 1960s.

John Latham imagined that time, not space, was the essential organising medium of the universe. He sought to demonstrate this through the creation of sculpture which 'spatialised' time and reconfigured dialogical norms.  His approach to the creation of sculpture and views on the role of language can be seen from his earliest works, such as the burning 'Skoob Towers' at Bear Lane Gallery in Oxford (1963), his contributions to sTigma at Better Books in 1965 and the 1966 Destruction in Arts Symposium and his in relief works, such as 'Shaun' (1958) currently on display.

Latham's investigations into time led him to cosmological theories that continued to develop in his mature works of sculpture to challenge the permanence and authority of language, and the idea of sculpture as timeless and immutable.

Rozemin Keshvani is an independent curator, writer and archivist. She holds a Masters in Modern and Contemporary Art from the University of Glasgow, College of Arts where she focused on the work of John Latham, Gustav Metzger and Stephen Willats.  She is author of the celebrated touring exhibition and recently published book, Better Books: Art, Anarchy and Apostasy exploring the early work of British artists who emerged from the 1950s and 60s counterculture scene, including John Latham. She and has also published on artists including Adam Barker-Mill, Jeff Nuttall, Lawrence Weiner and Gary Woodley.