The stalking sculptor

How the remarkable talent of SIMON GUDGEON was triggered by a birthday gift.

There is little doubt that sculptor Simon Gudgeon is at the very top of his game. He created a style of work which was unique - his elegant, smoothly finished wildlife bronzes broke new ground when they first appeared eight years ago. And he continues to innovate his most recent work includes a spectacular flying covey of grouse which was something of a showstopper at the 2006 CLA Game Fair, as his leaping salmon had been the previous year.

But this is one of many talents, most of which are underpinned by his love of the sport. When he sculpts he has the benefit not only of a fine artistic eye, but of really knowing and understanding his subject. Seeing his roe deer and kudu, you know that these are the work of a man who stalks. And indeed stalking is his number one passion.

But it’s all a long way from his childhood on a small farm near Scarborough, Yorkshire. Though perhaps not. “I shot from a very early age, and made bows and arrows even earlier than that!” he laughs.

But his career path to becoming an artist was far from conventional. He read law at Reading and duly qualified as a solicitor with top London firm Penningtons. “But it wasn’t me and I gave it up, not knowing what I really wanted to do. However, when I used to see the commuter trains from the bridge at Wandsworth Common I knew that I had made the right decision.”

Still needing to earn a living, he did some garden maintenance. This grew into running a garden landscape business, with garden design and a substantial retail operation. But, other than an ‘O’ level, art still had not entered his life.

Then Black Monday and the subsequent crash delivered a nasty blow to his garden business. The outlook did not look good and he was under immense pressure. This was the moment of divine intervention. His mother bought him a set of paints for his birthday. “She thought it would be relaxing for me. I hadn’t mentioned that I would like to paint, in fact, the thought had never even occurred to me. But, having been given the paints I started and found that I loved it.” It was a life changing moment.

Simon spent the next four years housesitting and teaching himself to paint. Almost to his amazement he found he was very good at it. His work from the outset concentrated largely on game species, drawing from his days spent on the Yorkshire farm watching and studying birds and animals, and those subsequently in the field. This experience and love of wildlife is clear in his extraordinary sculptures of creatures in motion.

Life became sweeter when people soon started to pay good money for his work. He had unearthed a gift. And life got better still in 1995 when he got together with his wife-to-be Monique (they had first met in 1981) and the couple married two years later.

They have made for a great partnership. “Mo does all things I hate the endless paperwork, food, organising me...!” She is, indeed, a great organiser and their party for other artists at the Game Fair is a highlight for all who attend it. Simon actually does much to promote other contemporary artists and it was him who brought them together to exhibit under the ‘Red Dot’ banner. “There is no competition we have mostly different styles but we all have a passion for what we do.”

Simon takes on a huge workload. He has written the acclaimed book ‘A Passion for Grouse’, which raised over £100,000 for the Game Conservancy Trust, and came up with the concept for another book ‘Woodcock Artists’ Impressions’. He’s presently working on another grouse title with other artists. He has also provided the artwork for the game scene engravings on EJ Churchill guns.

Along the way he fell into stalking and sculpting, the two closely intertwined. He started his first sculpture in 1998.

“I didn’t start stalking until I set about sculpting a life-size roe deer about five years ago, but I am now absolutely hooked. I’m very fortunate as I can walk out of my front door onto a 1,100 acre estate where I have the stalking rights.

“I had fancied sculpting so bought some clay. I hadn’t really got a clue but I knew straight away that I loved it and, with various ingredients bought from DIY shops, I found I could achieve the mix to create the smooth finish which I was looking for.”

There was then the task of sourcing a foundry. “The first one was not very good and certainly wouldn’t be able to handle my current much more technical work. But I now have an excellent relationship with a foundry which I am very happy with.” His first three pieces of work - hare and grouse in limited editions of 12 - sold out almost immediately after they went on display at the Game Fair.

Stalking also gives him plenty of new material to work with. “I took the BDS level one course and stalking has since become a passion. It is most unlike game shooting, which is much more social. With stalking you really are pitting your skill against those of a wild animal. You spend a lot of time in a high seat, where watching the wood go to bed is an amazing experience. It is incredible what you see. You might have five outings and not pull the trigger but it doesn’t matter. And, of course, I get ideas as well as seeing how animals behave.” He will shoot 7080 animals per year, mostly fallow.

“The hunt is the thing. I am not interested in trophies I have only one silver medal roebuck. But, if you are going to shoot a medal head, then it should be done properly on foot.”

It is the passion for the hunt which draws him to Africa up to three times a year, to hunt and to sketch. He favours South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda, but mostly South Africa. “I have a couple of friends out there and on my last trip, fellow artist Owen Williams and myself, along with the tracker were the only people on the 30,000 acres where we hunted. We were after kudu, an absolutely magnificent animal and so elusive. They can be so difficult to find it took three years to get my first one! Pulling the trigger is an anticlimax. But the whole experience in South Africa is wonderful and gives me a lot of ideas for new work.

“I have also hunted chamois in Austria which was wonderful the alps were spectacular.”

He is now working on two new sculptures for his one-man show in May 2007 at The Halcyon Gallery, London. For the first time he is creating works with raptors; a barn owl and a peregrine stooping on a grouse. The exhibition is bound to be a great success.

 
 
 

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