Gallery Pangolin is one of the few galleries to specialise in sculpture and related drawings and prints. Over the past twenty years the gallery has established a reputation for works of quality and excellence by both Modern and contemporary artists.

‘Jon Buck : Without Words’, is Jon’s fourth solo show at Gallery Pangolin and includes recent sculpture, prints and drawings, many of which have never previously been shown.

In the three years since his last show, Buck’s work has continued to evolve as he explores further those themes and ideas about which he is so passionate: the natural world, mythic narratives, metaphors, signals and symbols, evolution and scientific discovery.

His latest sculptures are powerful, often playful and humorous, but above all joyful. ‘Songs without words’ as Jon describes them, or visual equivalents to poems, they express the resilience of the human spirit, evoking recognition and intense emotion.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an introduction by Michael Bird, author of ‘Lynn Chadwick’ and ‘100 Ideas that Changed Art’.

Born in 1951, Jon Buck studied at Nottingham and Manchester Art Schools. He was a Fellow in Sculpture at Cheltenham College of Art and the first Artist in Residence for Thamesdown Borough Council in 1983. He is a Member of the Royal West of England Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.

Buck has completed many public commissions including ‘Embracing the Sea’ for Deal, Kent, ‘Returning to Embrace’ for Canary Wharf in London, ‘In the Swim’ for West Quay Centre, Southampton and 'Ship to Shore' for Portishead Quays. His work is regularly exhibited both in UK and abroad and is held in many public and private collections.

From his earliest days Buck has pursued his own interests of the figure and the natural world. His recent work has become more iconic in form, centred on the ‘making’ processes of casting from clay and plaster into metal. The sculptures act as intercessors between our contemporary intellectual selves and a more ancient, unconscious self that connects with our primitive, fundamental nature.

Buck’s work has always been concerned with both human and animal forms. Over time his figures have evolved from life studies to more iconic images reminiscent of goddesses and fertility symbols. In recent years drawing has played an increasing role in his work and lately the two activities of drawing and sculpture have become thoroughly intermeshed. The graphic elements are not only integral to the form but are also essential to the reading of the object.