About the Artwork

Please note this artwork is no longer on display.

‘Stagnight’ was developed from a drawing residency in Grizedale Forest (Cumbria, UK) in 1984. The sculpture was inspired by strong black and white drawings of trees and shadows, where the light and shade of the drawings are transformed into the solid and void of the sculpture.

‘Stagnight’ is a play on words and references; while drawing, a huge stag watched the artist through the trees – the title also makes reference to the mayhem of a stag night! The upright forms are based on observation of carts and trailers for transporting tree trunks nearby in the forest.

This work has been shown in several settings – urban, rural, and architectural – and the different settings alter the nature of the work. This is not a big sculpture but has a presence beyond its size.

Year: 1985


Michael Lyons, Stagnight, 1985, Kindly loaned by Michael Lyons. Photo: © Nick Turpin

Material

Mild Steel, rusted and varnished

Dimensions

140 x 140 x 108 cm

Artist Biography

Michael Lyons 

Michael Lyons studied at the Wolverhampton School of Artand The University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He has been Head of Sculpture at Manchester Art School, Vice President of the Royal Society of Sculptors; Visiting Professor at The National Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China; Tianjin Academy, China and was a Founding Member of Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Solo shows include: 'Machines and Myths: Sculpture and Drawings by Michael Lyons, Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle upon Tyne 2018; 'Full Circle' Wolverhampton Art Gallery 2017 (new film 'Full Circle' commissioned by gallery); 'Freeze Frame'Exhibition of Drawings and sculptures from the 70's and 80's at Leeds University Gallery 2016 ('Lenten Cover' installed on campus 2015); 'Scale Appropriate: Sculpture by Michael Lyons' Canary Wharf (One Canada Square and Jubilee Gardens) 2014; 'Under Heaven: A Chinese Odyssey' Sculpture and Drawings by Michael Lyons at the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester 2003/4; 'Michael Lyons - Sculpture and Works on Paper' 20 year Survey Show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park 1998.