Bretton Chapel and Bothy Gallery
19 September – Extended until 3 January 2010




"Like a sculptural sigh of wonderment, the piece is typical Byars: touching, vulnerable and ethereal."Robert Clark, The Guardian

Yorkshire Sculpture Park launches St Bartholomew's Chapel as a unique exhibition space with The Angel, a spellbinding work by the late American artist James Lee Byars (1932-1997). Built in 1744, YSP is opening the chapel to the public for the first time since its deconsecration to showcase The Angel (1989), which comprises 125 Murano glass spheres, each one hand-blown using just a single breath, and arranged in curves based on the Japanese Kanji character for ‘angel’.

Byars visited YSP in 1996 and was beguiled by the place and its atmosphere: it is fitting then that his work will create a graceful statement in a place that already contains a meditative presence.

A further selection of sculpture, incorporating themes and motifs explored by Byars throughout his career, will be shown in the Bothy Gallery at YSP. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience a significant installation by this intriguing artist known for profound and challenging performance and sculpture.

The Grade II* listed chapel, set in the eighteenth-century landscape, is a sandstone Georgian church built to serve the Bretton Estate and designed by Sir William Wentworth whose family owned the estate until 1792. It continued to be used for services for the local village until the early 1990s when it was deconsecrated and a new church was built in the village.

Works kindly loaned by Michael Werner Gallery

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Yorkshire Sculpture Park
West Bretton
Wakefield
West Yorkshire
England
WF4 4LG
Phone: +44 01924 832631
www.ysp.co.uk