Tom Waugh MRSS

Tom Waugh makes stone and marble sculptures that depict discarded, mass-produced objects. By paying close attention to texture, form, and surface detail, he achieves a high level of realism in his work. Some of the sculptures are life-size, others are larger than life, and some appear, like fossils, emerging from the pristine rock. Running through his work is a desire to express mankind’s paradoxical relationship with the natural world. We are both destructive and dependent on nature, being at its mercy while also seeking to control and manipulate it. Waugh’s Sculptures are infused at every level with the uncertainty and irony of humanity’s pursuit of progress, in the end, what is the purpose of this progress? Why are we doing this?

Based in Somerset, Waugh studied Architectural Stone Carving at the City and Guilds of London Art School where he gained a scholarship from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. In 2018 he became an elected member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and in the same year, he won the Rise Art Prize for Sculpture. In 2006 he was awarded the Ballardie Travel prize to study in India with the temple carver Raja Sacaren.

In 2002 he started work as an Apprentice Stonemason at St Paul’s Church in Bristol. He went on to work on some of the county’s most Iconic buildings including St Pauls Cathedral and St Pancras Station. Through the transition from Stonemasonry and Architectural Carving to Contemporary Sculpture, Waugh has developed a unique set of skills and a deep understanding of the materials he works with.