Norman DILWORTH

English sculptor Norman Dilworth was born in 1931 in Wigan

He lived and worked in Lille, where he died in 2023.
His works have been exhibited at the Oniris gallery since 2005

With a predilection for the square, Norman Dilworth composed a series of tireless variations governed by geometry. The artist uses clearly defined systems of organization, relying on the law of numbers and experimentation. However, Dilworth also loves randomness and sometimes relies on chance. His sculptures, all animated by the rhythm of full and empty spaces, are carved in various materials such as stone, wood or Corten steel.

I work with clearly defined systems of organization. It may sound boring, but I hope the result is not! I never alter these rules to make the work look more interesting, otherwise it would be better to start again.

Norman Dilworth began by exploring the possibilities of Concrete Art through painting and drawing. The important threshold he crossed at the end of the 1970s implies that his sculptural constructions are no longer objects that structure space in three dimensions, but begin to have their own identity, developing in space from their point of origin; each work individually creates its dimensional space through its concrete, material and visual engendering.

Through his creations, Norman Dilworth succeeds in releasing sensuality in the precision of mathematical compositions, and in bringing to life the lines, numbers and volumes he places in space. The relationship to space is, in all situations, fundamental. Norman Dilworth thinks his works in space because the place plays a role in the apprehension of the work. Space is shaped by these sculptures.

In spite of the power or the heaviness of the materials, ranging from paper cut-outs to steel, the artist knows how to bring lightness into his volumes, harmony operates. The visitor is plunged into a playful world in permanent emulation. This research always pushed to the extreme proves that the repetition of a strict form is in no way the beginning of a disembodiment of feeling.