Paul Day (sculptor)

The Meeting Place, St Pancras Station, London

The Meeting Place, St Pancras Station, 2013

Paul Day (born 1967) is a British sculptor. His high-relief sculptures in terracotta, resin, and bronze have been exhibited widely in Europe and his work is known for its unusual approach to perspective.^[1]

Major works include:^[1][2]

• Brussels — an urban comedy, a 25 m (82 ft) long terracotta frieze in the Royal Galleries of Saint-Hubert in Brussels
• The Battle of Britain Monument on the Victoria Embankment in London
• The Meeting Place, a 9 m (30 ft) tall bronze statue in St Pancras railway station in London, surrounded by a frieze (see below).

In 2008 a high-relief frieze was added to the base of the Meeting Place sculpture as part of refurbishments at St Pancras, featuring images from the history of the Tube and train: people queuing on platforms or travelling in carriages; soldiers departing for war and returning injured, and repair works following the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The work was the object of controversy when first erected, as one panel depicted a commuter falling into the path of a train driven by the Grim Reaper. However, following discussions with London and Continental Railways (LCR), this panel was replaced with another.^{[3] [4]}

Day studied at art schools in the UK at Colchester and Dartington, completing his training at Cheltenham in 1991. He now lives in a village near Dijon, France, with his French wife, Catherine. Their Anglo-French relationship is an explicit and repetitive reference in his works. The Meeting Place, which is modelled on an embrace between Paul and Catherine, standing as a metaphor for St. Pancras's role as the terminus of the rail link between England and France.^[1][5]

Another contemporary sculptor and critic, Antony Gormley, singled out The Meeting Place statue when he condemned the current public art works across the UK, stating: ".....there is an awful lot of crap out there."^[6]

References

1. "Battle of Britain London Monument". Battle of Britain Archive. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
2. Milmo, Cahal (2007-02-14). "Art that embraces a new future for St Pancras". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
3. Rachel Stevenson (12 October 2008). "St Pancras station refuses to display train death sculpture". The Guardian. London.
4. Paula Fentiman (13 October 2008). "St Pancras frieze toned down". The Guardian. London.
5. "Sculptor Paul Day's Commission". sculpture.net. 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
6. Arifa Akbar (6 March 2008). "Modern public artworks are 'crap', says Gormley.". The Independent.

External links

• Official website