David Nash

David Nash – Training as a sculptor; the turn to land art

David Nash was born in Esher, Surrey, on 14 November 1945. From 1963 to 1964 he attended the Kingston College of Art where he studied sculpture, moving to Brighton College of Art in 1964, and then on to Wales in 1967. The artist still lives and works there, with his studio in an old, unused chapel, and the land around providing inspiration through extended walks as well as the space to develop and execute numerous Land Art projects. From the beginning, it has been part of Nash’s philosophy that he does not impose his art on anyone, but simply starts working and waits for invitations from the various cultural institutions. These have long since come in large numbers, taking the artist - who owes numerous influences to Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy - to the world’s most important museums. Nash frequently creates artworks on site, often in collaboration with local woodworkers. He knows no language barriers because, he says, everyone involved speaks the language of the trees – and that is decisive in Nash’s work. 

The trees and their wood determine the work of David Nash

Nash’s most important material is wood, and he cultivates a special connection to trees. They are his inspiration, the heart of his work. This is the case even when he makes his sculptures out of bronze or iron. David Nash emphasises the parallels between the human life cycle and that of the trees; he sees them as the ‘great companions in nature’ for man and animal and ascribes all life possibility to them. His art is created on this basis, bringing wood and sometimes metal into the desired form which is always oriented on the natural structure of the tree. In doing so, David Nash only uses wood from fallen or uprooted trees or ones that have been felled due to disease. Nash respects natural spaces and boundaries and needs them for his work; he almost always works outdoors, although most of his sculptures are intended for sheltered indoor spaces. 

Becoming and transience as part of art

The artist David Nash expends a great deal of patience for his Land Art artworks. He only gives an approximate direction for many of his works and leaves the rest to nature itself. He planted 22 ash trees on his property in Wales, with the trunks cut in such a way that the branches grew together and built a natural dome. David Nash calls this work ‘Ash Dome’, and counts it as one of his ‘works in progress’ that often take many decades to complete and subsequently fade back into the natural cycle. ‘Wooden Boulder’, a rough sphere that the artist sawed out of a 200-year-old oak trunk, took 25 years to make its way through the streams and rivers of Wales until it finally disappeared into the sea. Nash often had to help it along, push the sculpture, free it from obstacles, wait. Many drawings, photographs and sculptures were created along the way, which together form in turn a fascinating work of art.