Robyn Neild has always considered the human body as a fluctuating vessel, carrying narratives and the possibility of transformation. After a degree in Fashion Design, at London’s Middlesex University, Neild began her career as a fashion illustrator for magazines such as Vogue or Glamour. Later, relocating to the Kent coast and collaborating with a foundry, she began to explore the possibilities of the three-dimensional. The concept of the body as an art-object became more of a focus for the artist.

Robyn Neild creates and casts her sculptures in her studio, preferring not to use moulds, so no two bronzes are the same. She creates her work using wax, fabric, and botanical materials found on the coastal walks to and from her studio. The artist is inspired by her environment, either the marshlands of Kent, or the stark shingled beauty of Dungeness, home to the abandoned shells of old fishing boats. She leaves personal touches such as fingerprints in her work, creating an indelible link to herself and her craft in each piece. In her bramble and bronze cottages, Robyn creates sanctuaries which seem to both be able to provide shelter and entrap in thorny barriers.

Texture and form are of paramount significance. The artist enjoys the impression of fingerprints left behind in the modelling wax, dictating a journey of where her hands have fluidly shaped the forms and figures. The intricate modelling, combined with the‘lost wax’casting technique, forces the metal to take on the delicate structures or halt altogether: leaving gaps and pauses, pregnant with absence.

Figurative work embody change, transformation and liberation, strong female bodies - resistant and seemingly fragile at the same time. Neild creates a knotted complexity from plant life such as bramble or cherry blossom to create barriers , limits, fears, potential, aspirations. The gaps & pauses in the bronze create an unfinished quality that connections with the viewer speaking of a life lived, with loss, resilience… a living being not just ornament to be viewed.