It’s easy to misjudge quite how fertile Britain’s current crop of women sculptors is. Rather than headlining shows, female sculptors are more often side-lined by the art establishment in favour of big name male ‘blockbusters’. In the world of sculpture, figures like the late and great Louise Bourgeois are rare.

Clearly things need to change. And so, the Pangolin gallery have stepped forward and organised an all-female show, Women Make Sculpture, that celebrates the UK’s raw and polished sculpting talent. With pieces from established names like Sarah Lucas to emerging ones like Polly Morgan, known for her fragile taxidermy. The aim of the show isn’t to lump women into one easy gender category, but to give them the room to showcase their diversity.

As the Director of Pangolin London, Polly Bielecka says, “The exhibition is not intended to tackle gender superiority; rather it hopes to question whether female artists bring something different to contemporary British sculpture.”

From Almuth Tebbenhoff’s intricate steel wall pieces to Deborah Van der Beek’s horse head – sculpted from the detritus of war – there’s a wide enough mix of ideas and materials to prove that when women make sculpture it has everything and nothing to do with their sex.

Women Make Sculpture is at Pangolin from May 19 to June 18 2011.
pangolinlondon.com

Tags: Almuth Tebbenhoff, Deborah Van der Beek, Louise Bourgeois, Pangolin, Pangolin London, Polly Bielecka, Polly Morgan, Sarah Lucas, Women Make Sculpture