Natalie Finnemore: Support Structures

We teamed up with John Lewis & Partners Leeds to work with artist Natalie Finnemore to present sculpture in the store. We presented a new sculptural installation in the window on Ludgate Hill (opposite Kirkgate Market) and on the second floor near the feature staircase.

The work explored the grey area between functional sculpture and non-functional design. Support Structures is part of Natalie Finnemore’s ongoing investigation into producing ‘prototypes for living’. Welcoming the store’s products, the sculptures found a new purpose and evolved throughout the festival, as John Lewis & Partners displayed changed.

Natalie Finnemore is based in Sheffield. Her works often use rudimentary techniques which cannot be mass produced and can only achieved by the artist’s hands. Included in the display are lampshades, industrial clothes rails and stacked boxes. Their function has been re-purposed and transformed into a stage-like set, taken influence from Georgio de Chirico’s ‘metaphysical interiors’ of the early twentieth century.

Natalie Finnemore is one of five Yorkshire Sculpture International Associate Artists. Each Associate Artist has been paired with one of the four partner galleries and has received mentoring throughout 2019 alongside a programme of group sessions, artist visits and workshops. Natalie Finnemore has been paired with Leeds Art Gallery.

The commission coincides with the Associate Artist group exhibition, Associated Matter, which was open 22 June – 7 July at The Bothy Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Listen to Natalie Finnemore talking about the project in our audio guide