In September 2024, the exhibition 'Testing the Objects of Affection' opened at Alison Jacques gallery, which presented sculptor Alison Wilding's (b.1948) most important work across five decades. Immediately apparent was the sheer variety of materials and processes at play: a bleached pheasant's feather squeezed through a ball, a solitary spindle sheathed in red silk, an arc of galvanised steel teetering on a knife edge.

Wilding's restless sculpture appears to inhabit the fertile space between abstraction and figuration, hovering on the cusp of frailty and strength, darkness and light, groundedness and flight.

Installation view, 'Alison Wilding: Testing the Objects of Affection', Alison Jacques, 2024

Despite producing work of consistent quality and range, Wilding has received far less critical attention than many of her male contemporaries – even though she has been twice nominated for the Turner Prize (in 1988 and 1992) and was made a Royal Academician in 1999. With fifty years of work in clear view, now is the perfect moment to reflect on Wilding's core motivations and achievements and to acknowledge her significant contribution to sculpture.

Born in Blackburn, Lancashire in 1948, Wilding grew up in a remote fenland village in Cambridgeshire, surrounded by big skies, water courses, and flat landscapes punctuated by the occasional telegraph pole.

It was in the plaster room of Nottingham School of Art (1966–1967) that Wilding discovered her vocation for sculpture. She went on to study at Ravensbourne College of Art & Design (1966–1970), and then at the Royal College of Art (1970–1973) where she was the only female student in her year: 'I was like one of the boys. That was the only way I could deal with it really.'

The years immediately after art school proved challenging for Wilding, as she honed her sculptural direction. She was encouraged by a slightly older generation of RCA graduates – Carl Plackman (1943–2004), Martin Naylor (1944–2016) and Richard Wentworth (b.1947) – who were engaged in the poetic transformation of familiar objects.

Wilding also maintained a close view of international developments, admiring the condensed suggestiveness of Constantin Brâncuși's (1876–1957) sculpture. Postminimalism and Arte Povera provided important lessons in how to engage physically with an expanded range of materials, as evidenced in the work of Eva Hesse (1936–1970) and Richard Serra (1938–2024) among others.

In 1978, Wilding rented a studio in a disused dockland warehouse in Wapping, east London. Prior to redevelopment, this cold, forbidding architecture provided a temporary space in which artists could work and participate in regular open studio exhibitions. Wilding was one of several women, including Shelagh Cluett (1947–2007) and Shelagh Wakely (1932–2011), who were creating innovative sculpture in this riverside setting.

Responding to the physical constraints of her studio and harnessing a range of materials including silk, plastic bags, knitting and metals, Wilding developed a compelling body of work that attracted leading critics and gallerists. Untitled (1980) marked a clear breakthrough. This light-touch work comprises a meandering ring of zinc which encircles two handmade brass bags that counterbalance precariously.

Embracing the floor, this work transformed an area of Wilding's studio into a remote, inhabited island, an ambiguous zone in which issues of protection and ensnarement jostled for territory.

Avoiding all contact with the floor, Minge (1982) was Wilding's first truly wall-based work. Here, copper wing-like folds splay outwards to reveal a red centre.

This colourful core was made by dripping a hot, melted wax crayon onto the surface of the metal. Part bird, part body, this sensuous work is highly suggestive but ultimately resists a fixed interpretation. 'I'm interested in the kind of charge a small object can project around it', Wilding once reflected.

The chance discovery of an old telegraph pole in a Wapping woodyard prompted Wilding to make Locust (1983). She wrapped a section of the pole in patinated copper, topping the sculpture with a menacing, wing-like flourish.

The title takes its cue from John Milton's poem, Paradise Lost (1667), which refers to 'a pitchy cloud / Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind.' Wilding's interest in the menacing potential of winged and mechanised flight has informed many subsequent sculptures, including On The Day (1986).

By the mid-1980s, Wilding's work frequently featured in exhibitions of 'New British Sculpture'. In many ways, this was a catch-all term used to promote and market the work of a diverse generation of UK-based sculptors engaged in the 'hands-on' transformation of a wide range of familiar materials. Although the male protagonists (particularly those represented by Lisson Gallery) harnessed most of the critical attention, Wilding made the best of these opportunities while maintaining her unique vision.

In 1985, Wilding's first solo exhibition took place at the Serpentine Gallery in London. In her catalogue essay, the writer and critic Lynne Cooke pinpointed several important themes and formal concerns that have continued to motivate Wilding, including the dynamic interplay between two contrasting forms, as evidenced in Nature: Blue and Gold (1984).

Equally compelling is Wilding's clear interest in water as a source of reflection and threat. Contained units of water are suggested in Well (1985), whereas in other works, floor-hugging expanses of neoprene convey a pool-like stillness.

In Deep Water (1989), undulating folds of black cloth flow with an almost baroque attitude.

The relationship between the external skin and the inner core of an object has led to multiple sculptural strategies, including the puncturing of vessel forms to expose darkened interiors, as in Hand to Mouth (1986).

In the early 1990s, Wilding began using coloured acrylic to illuminate interior spaces. In Red Skies (1991), a tall steel structure stands slightly ajar, enabling a glimpse of the glowing red cone housed within.

Wilding also started to experiment with monocoque in the early 1990s. Often used in the aviation and car manufacturing industries, monocoque is a construction technique involving the building of robust structures from just an outer skin or shell. Using transparent strips of slatted plastic, Wilding built a series of self-supporting structures that appear to hover in space, dissolving boundaries of inside and out.

In Assembly (1991), the PVC monocoque form appears determined to slide into its steel counterpart, as if seeking sanctuary. Conversely, the spherical form in Arena (2000) seems unhinged, capturing reflections and perched objects in a tornado of upward energy.

Wilding applies the same level of attention to all aspects of her work, whether working on large-scale installations for galleries and sites or producing intimate works for tabletop display. Materials are valued for their individual characteristics and combined in unusual ways to create satisfying correspondences. In Drone 1 (2012), a cast fibreglass form rests cautiously on etched alabaster. Despite its small scale and its fusion of ancient and modern materials, this work conveys a timeless monumentality.

Intriguingly, a sense of informality and flux informs Wilding's public sculpture. In Migrant (2003), a site-specific sculpture made for Snape Maltings in Suffolk, two large bronze lozenge forms hover provisionally in a sunken ditch. On the accompanying label, Wilding noted: 'Migrant is about travelling not destination. Its nature is changeable, secretive – a glimpse of bird or boat'.

A restless energy also informs Swarm (2023), Wilding's most recent public sculpture. Occupying a window niche in London's Mayfair, this delicate work comprises a brass lattice delineating multiple forms in flight. Perhaps birds, leaves or fish, these flowing figures gravitate upwards, yet they also prompt reflection back and across Wilding's career, recalling her sustained interest in air and flight, nature and manufacture.

Even this brief introduction to Wilding's sculpture has revealed the incredible poise and originality of her vision. Across fifty years, Wilding has pursued new directions with resilience and determination, even in the face of fluctuating recognition. Her proactive support of fellow sculptors must also be acknowledged. Through friendship and teaching, and by sharing opportunities, Wilding has endorsed the work of Phyllida Barlow (1944–2023) and Rachel Whiteread (b.1963), among many others. Her sustained actions have helped shift the discourse around women's sculpture from the edge to the centre.

Natalie Rudd, curator and writer

'Alison Wilding: Testing the Objects of Affection' was at Alison Jacques from 20th September – 26th October 2024

This content was supported by Jerwood Foundation

Further reading

Jo Applin and Briony Fer, Alison Wilding, Lund Humphries in association with Ridinghouse, 2018

Jo Baring and Sarah Turner, Sculpting Lives podcast, series 2, episode 4 (23rd November 2021)

Penelope Curtis, Anna Lovatt and Rosie Cooper, Alison Wilding: On Paper, Ridinghouse, 2024