Libby Brooks MRSS

Summary Biography

Following 6 years formal art education in the 90’s, culminating in an MA Sculpture at the RCA, I worked as a tutor and technical demonstrator at the University of Brighton for 2 years. From here I taught myself 3D computer graphics software and in 1999 landed a job in the Flight Simulation sector as a ‘Synthetic Environment Designer’ creating interactive 3D models of airports around the world to train Commercial Airline Pilots. Here I was drawn into the business world and completed a business degree over 5 years part time, then from 2004 worked my way into a string of roles drafting, negotiating and delivering major projects in the high technology sector.  During this time I also trained formally as a certified coach and in 2014 set up my own Limited company offering coaching, training and consulting for organisations. In 2017 I closed my business to move to Cornwall and set up sculpture studios in order to make a serious return to my first love of sculpting.

Artist Statement

I’m a sculptor working with foams, resins, foundry metals, wood, plaster and more. From as early as I can remember, I scoured woodlands to collect things - bones, stones, dug up bits, old rusty hooks from long lost gates, fossils, leaf skeletons - remnants and traces.

Today I create sculptures that are visceral, bringing the insides out, evidencing my interest in fibrous matter, tendons, organs and skin.  Like creatures, works emerge from the studio full of ambiguity and potential - absurd, wonky, sometimes darkly comical and often disconcerting.

I’m fascinated to learn about cycles and systems of life, including death and decay, from fungi networks underground to circulatory networks connecting organs inside our bodies - the boundaries between inside and outside become blurred.

Sculptures both attract and repel and seem to ask us what they are, but then strongly resist any category. There is no ego, but they appear alive and aware with an unnerving power which vibrates us between our primal past and our future.  Both the viewer and viewed read each other to find meaning and we predict how they might move or what their purpose is.

They challenge us, pointing us back to ourselves; our logic is disrupted and we experience a deeper level of intelligence that frees us of conditioning we’ve been taught and told since birth. We find ourselves exposed and contemplating peril, death and fragility. Reminded that we are limited and impermanent, we learn that perhaps being vulnerable is in fact our greatest strength.