Jordy Kerwick: Hydra vs Bear
Art Outdoors /Jordy Kerwick: Hydra vs Bear
Hydra vs Bear depicts a battle between the gigantic water serpent from Greek mythology and a double-headed bear. Cast in bronze, the two beasts are poised mid-attack: Hydra rises from the ground ready to strike, while Bear lunges forward with claws and teeth bared. Sited on the Bothy Triangle at YSP, the works reflect Kerwick’s curious and playful approach to making.
Wolves, tigers, cobras, bears and unicorns all feature in Kerwick’s sculptures and paintings, along with hybrid and strange creatures. These animals are the subject of some of the earliest cave paintings, dating from the Palaeolithic era. The artist draws on these archetypes and ancestral memories. His monsters and many-headed creatures also hint at contemporary fears: the consequences of genetic engineering or the fallout from nuclear conflict.
I've always been a fan of storytelling and have been inspired by how writers create narratives. Folklore is the traditional way of telling stories, relying on distinctive characters and symbolism to tell tales of good and evil, life and death, and fear and bravery. In that sense, my work leans on those folkloric characteristics.
- Jordy Kerwick
About the artist
Jordy Kerwick (b. 1982, Melbourne, Australia) lives and works in Albi, France. He is a self-taught artist, taking up painting in 2016, and has exhibited extensively internationally. His paintings and sculptures are held in numerous public and private collections. Merging mythical creatures with human forms, flowers and landscapes, Kerwick’s imaginative work challenges the normal constraints of both adulthood and the artworld.
You may also like
- News
Jordy Kerwick: Hydra vs Bear coming soon
5 June 2023 - News
Yorkshire Sculpture Park announces 2023 programme
16 November 2022 - Art Outdoors
Henry Moore: Upright Motives No. 1 (Glenkiln Cross): No 2; No 7
Moore created twelve Upright Motives in the mid 1950s. In their powerful symbolism these pieces owe much to the tall, upright stones, known as menhirs, from prehistoric times. Moore brought all these influences together to create forms which are unmistakably his own. - Art Outdoors
Damien Hirst: The Hat Makes the Man
The Hat Makes the Man is based on a 1920 collage of the same name by the Surrealist artist Max Ernst. Hirst has made a sculpture version with bronze casts of wooden pallets, like a sculptural collage.
