Kevin Francis Gray, Pace Gallery

Dark beauty in bronze and stone comes to the Pace Gallery this winter. Sculptor Kevin Francis Gray’s contemporary twists on Neoclassical forms, which captivated Frieze London-goers in October, left us spellbound in this new show at Pace’s Burlington Gardens space.

Gray grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles – the decades of violence between Catholics and Protestants that saw many children making petrol bombs to pass the time – and there’s no doubt that the darkness of this period influences his work.  

He began to capture the art scene’s attention about five years ago with edgy realist sculptures immortalising contemporary East London youths, dressed in hoodies, jeans and trainers, in the traditional media of bronze, marble and black resin. With the faces of these alarming figures often concealed under their hoods or long veils, if you peered beneath you might be confronted with the grimace of a skull.

Gray continues to find his inspiration in East London, but his new works are more intimate, more in tune with traditional portraiture – with Gray himself noting that they represent “a distinctive change of visual and sculptural language”. But there’s something distinctly disconcerting about these pieces too. One, Ballerina and Boy (2013), shows a female ballerina straining to maintain the classical en pointe pose with the limp body of a male dancer slung over her body. Elsewhere, five double life-size bronze heads conceal shiny, hollowed-out interiors that jar with their rugged outer physicality. Do these represent polished, idealised worlds? If so, what should we make of the fact that their innards have been gouged out?

The highlight for us was Twelve Chambers (2013) - a set of twelve life-size bronze nudes that viewers can walk around and between. Based on Hackney residents, the figures include drug addicts, rough sleepers and a local chef - some tense with restless energy; others conjuring utter isolation, while others still reach out to offer their compassion.  It’s a fractured portrait of human society and a timeless collection of works that’ll make you shudder with their intensity. The entire exhibition is unsettling, thought-provoking and, what's more, completely free.

Admission: FREE

Address and map:   6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET

Nearest tube: Green Park / Piccadilly