102980 | GREAT BRITAIN. "Cove and Beach" cast bronze Medal.

102980  |  GREAT BRITAIN. "Cove and Beach" cast bronze Medal. Issued 1988 (89mm, 550 g, 4h). By Paul Mason for the British Art Medal Society.

 

Abstract view of a cove // Abstract view of a beach. Edge: Some filing marks as made, otherwise plain.

 

Attwood 51; The Medal 13, p. 125. As Made. Brown-bronze surfaces. Fairly rare, with a total output of just 26 pieces.

 

In The Medal 13, the writeup for this medal mentions that "...Paul Mason studied at Bolton College of Art and Design, Wolverhampton Polytechnic, and the Royal Academy Schools where he won the gold medal. He has exhibited regularly in London and elsewhere since 1977, and commissions for sculpture have included work for Harlow New Town and the Northern Arts Association. Since 1981 he has been lecturer in sculpture at Loughborough College of Art and Design. On the subject of the medal, he writes: 'The Cove originated from drawings of Lulworth Cove in Dorset, there is a vantage point from the cliff which creates the feeling of being very high up indeed, a weightlessness akin to flying, the view of a seagull. The rough qualities of the slate and the process marks of carving it take upon the characteristics of land masses, sea, waves ripples and cliff faces. 'The Beach is a viewpoint and orientation of a quite different sort. Less aerial, more frontal, the vessel shapes are boats or bottles sideways on or going away, they take upon a feeling of a cross-section through the sand becoming fossils in a murky subterranean world. There is a marked contrast of mood and sensation, yet both are created and bound by the same tactile qualities of edge line and surface. Whilst these were starting points from original drawings the delight in the process soon took over, the result being discovered rather than planned.'"

 

Upload: 3 February 2025.